


Relative Weakness

by myahoo



Series: Works from (Camp) Nanowrimo [1]
Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: Camp Nanowrimo 2014, Gen, Magic, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-30 06:42:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 43,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6413110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myahoo/pseuds/myahoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Very</i> tentative summary:</p><p>Rai has magic, Omi has Feelings, Kimiko and Clay have to figure out how to deal with it all. Dojo can <i>actually</i> lend a helping hand this time, but Wuya, Hannibal, and Chase aren't going to make things easy for them. And that's not even counting the new players on the board.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Unbetaed. Nanowrimo quality. Written for Camp Nano April 2014. It's been sitting at a bit more than this for a very long while, but *shrugs* no motivation to finish, even if I kinda know where I wanna take it. First time posting on AO3, so hope it all looks alright.
> 
> Inspired by three thoughts:  
> 1) What if Omi wasn't the only one to have learned something from the Heylin?  
> 2) Jack and Ashley couldn't have been the _only_ rich kids around.  
>  3) Rai has a big family and no one on the Heylin side thought of blackmail/kidnapping?

Two teenage girls were lounging comfortably in a spacious, sunny room, several cats happily bounding about as the two talked. One girl, a blonde in a dark purple tank top and a gold-belted purple skirt, was settled into a lounge chair with a cat snuggling into her lap and was complaining loudly about another fight she had lost to a quartet of monks. The other girl, a brunette in a white tank top and jeans, was lying on the couch with one arm behind her head and petting another cat while she absently listened to the blonde recount all her grievances against the monks, the other villains, and Jack.

“I _still_ can’t believe I let _Jack_ talk me into that _huge_ fight last month,” the blonde said with disgust, raising the pitch of her voice as she mimicked the self-proclaimed evil boy genius’ pitch. “‘C’mon, _Ashley_ , they’ll be caught off-guard. They’ll never expect _all_ of us to go after them _together_. They’ll _never_ see us coming.’” She scoffed, dropping her voice back to its normal range. “The only thing I got out of that was another bunch of bruises and a two-month-long grounding.” A huff of laughter from the other girl had Ashley rolling onto her side to pout at the brunette. “Kaitlyn,” she whined, trying to look pitiful. “You’re supposed to feel _bad_ for me, not laugh at me.” She pouted at the entirely-too-amused look she got in return.

“If you didn’t get yourself into such ridiculous situations,” her friend replied, grinning at the face Ashley directed at her. “I wouldn’t find things so hilarious. Besides, it’s your own fault for wanting the magic things so badly. Don’t tell me you only want them ‘cuz _Jack’s_ after them.” Kaitlyn’s grin widened as Ashley stuck her tongue out and then wrinkled her nose.

“No way! I just wanna get the Golden Tiger Claws again; those were _awesome!_ ” The blonde grinned, flopping onto her back as she imagined all the things she could get if she had the Wu again. After all, you couldn’t exactly arrest the criminal you couldn’t catch, right? “And they’re called Shen Gong Wu, Kait. I thought you’d remember by now,” she absently added.

“Golden Tiger Claws? The ones that could take you wherever you wanted?”

“Yeah, I told you ‘bout them, remember? When I got Jack and Wuya to tell me about what they were up to?” Ashley rolled onto her side again and rolled her eyes when she noticed that Kaitlyn was definitely paying attention now. Honestly, the way her friend perked up at the mention of what the Shen Gong Wu could do, you would think she’d never heard Ashley recount all her encounters with the monks, Jack, and the other _actual_ villains a million times already.

The brunette’s brow was furrowed as she recalled something that Ashley had previously told her about the Claws. “Didn’t you say that the round-headed monk chucked the Claws into the center of the Earth or something? To stop anyone from using them?”

Ashley waved the question off. “Jack said the monks have it now and _he’s_ more likely to know what they have than _I_ am.” She wrinkled her nose at the thought, but couldn’t exactly say it was false; Jack may have been an idiot, but he was always right in the middle of all that Shen Gong Wu stuff. Heck, she could probably ask him what all that stuff with the funky eclipse and that oil rig explosion was about and he’d probably be able to tell her exactly what had gone down and who’d been involved.

With a sigh, the blonde settled back into her lounge chair, the cat in her lap having long since left his sleeping spot for another much-less-mobile location. “The only thing I have to do now is figure out how I’m gonna get the Claws from them, now that they’ve got a leader.” She stared up at the ceiling as though a plan would suddenly write itself on the blank surface. “What do you think, Kait? Got any ideas on how I can get my paws on those Claws?”

The brunette snorted. “What’re you asking _me_ for? _I’m_ not the one with all the experience with those Wu.”

“Aw.” Ashley pouted again, though she didn’t bother looking at her friend. “But your plans always make the most sense. _And_ , they usually work.”

“Why don’t you just go ask Jack?” Kaitlyn was not impressed. “When he actually _uses_ his common sense, his plans aren’t _that_ bad. And he’ll actually know what you’ll have to watch out for, with the number of times I’ve heard him say he’s stolen the things from the monks.”

The occasional cat burglar made a disgusted face. “Yeah, but he’s always so sarcastic and he _never_ gives me the sort of answer I want.” She shook her head. “I have _no_ idea how you can stand talking to him whenever we get invited to his parents’ parties.”

The other teen shrugged. “Better to talk to him than some of the others,” she said mildly, shifting into a more comfortable position on the couch. “At least, _his_ conversational topics are interesting.”

“Well, enough about Jack.” Ashley sat up to look expectantly at Kaitlyn. “You got a plan for me?”

“Mhm, gimme a bit,” she replied, turning her gaze to the ceiling and actually thinking about what her friend asked her to do. After a moment, she glanced back at the blonde, a sly grin growing on her face. “I think we’ve got a self-proclaimed evil boy genius to visit.” At Ashley’s long-suffering groan, Kaitlyn couldn’t help barking out a laugh.

 

* * *

 

Jack Spicer, Evil Boy Genius, was where he always was when things were calm (or as calm as things ever got since he opened that puzzle box and got dragged into the Shen Gong Wu hunt by Wuya): his basement ‘lair,’ working on his robots. With the long Wu dry spell, he had been able to repair all of the bots that were smashed during the humungous fight with the Xiaolin losers a month ago and actually get started on that upgrade that he’d been thinking about for a while now. This time, his Jackbots _would_ be able to keep the monks occupied while he nabbed whatever Wu he wanted.

Of course, that meant that he had music blaring from the speakers in his lab and didn’t realize he had visitors until the intruder alarm went off. He shrieked, toppling backwards in his swivel chair as he tried to reorient himself and not destroy his hours of programming at the same time. With some disgruntled mumbling, he rubbed his head and shut off the alarm, shooting a glare at the basement door at the same time. He groaned at the sight of blonde hair and purple clothes.

“What d’you want, Ashley? Can’t you see I’m busy here?” He scowled at the other teenage villain as he got to his feet, crossing his arms as she simply waltzed into his lab.

She scoffed. “Doing what? Playing games?” Black eyes darted to the computer screen before shifting away, uninterested in whatever Jack had been doing. “Besides, _I_ wasn’t the one who wanted to come here.”

The tech genius frowned. “What? Then who–?” He turned back towards the stairs leading into his lair and blinked dumbly at the teenager glancing around curiously. “Kaitlyn?”

The brunette grinned and wiggled her fingers at him. “Hey, Jack. How’s it going?”

He gaped at her. “Where did you come from? And I thought you said you weren’t interested in the Shen Gong Wu?” He narrowed his eyes accusingly.

“Guess you’ve only got eyes for Ashley now, huh?” Kaitlyn teased, grinning widely as both teens spluttered and loudly denied any interest in the other. “And I don’t. Well, not really,” she added at Ashley’s raised eyebrow. “Ashley just wanted to know if I could help her get the Golden Tiger Claws. The one that lets you go wherever you want?” The brunette drew a circle in the air with a finger and looked expectantly at the two more experienced Wu hunters. The other girl nodded, slightly exasperated, while Jack turned watery eyes on the speaker.

“How come you never helped _me_ plan a raid?” He sounded wounded and hurt by the apparent rejection of one of the only people who would actually listen to him. His frequent conversational partner rolled her eyes and gave him a flat stare.

“You never asked and the _one_ time I offered, you insisted that you didn’t need anyone else’s help and that you already had the perfect plan, insert evil laughter here. And then you ran back to your lab, probably already imagining your victory.” She raised an unimpressed eyebrow as he dropped his gaze, letting out a sheepish chuckle.

“Oh. Right. Hehe…”

Ashley rolled her eyes at them. Kaitlyn was always _way_ too nice to the weirdo; it was a wonder that he hadn’t rubbed off on her when she considered how often the brunette would duck out of a party to go talk to the redhead whenever she couldn’t get out of going. Hoping to bring the two back to the matter at hand, she cleared her throat.

“So, you said he could help with something?” She looked expectantly at her friend, who nodded at her and turned back to Jack.

“Can you pull up whatever there is on the monks’ backgrounds?”

The self-proclaimed evil genius frowned as he pulled his swivel chair upright and settled in to look up the requested information. “What, are you thinking about blackmail?”

Kaitlyn shrugged. “That or kidnapping, but that’s...messy and complicated and not always worth it.” She wrinkled her nose.

The sometimes cat burglar glanced at her friend. “Really? That’s the only thing you could come up with?”

The brunette shrugged again. “Couldn’t think of anything else that probably hasn’t already been tried. I mean, sneaking in’s kinda obvious and pretty much the first thing that anyone would think of. Sure, a distraction would help, but that doesn’t always work.” She nodded minutely towards the redheaded tech genius to indicate where she’d learned _that_. “You could always Showdown over some of the Wu—that’s what it’s called, right? A Showdown?—but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’d have it on them or that you’d get a chance to choose the ones being wagered. So…blackmail or ransom.” She glanced wryly between the two villains. “Unless you think you could _talk_ them into giving it to you?”

“Pft,” Jack interjected, waving a hand dismissively. “Why ask when it’s quicker and easier to just swipe it?”

“Besides, those goody-two-shoes would never just _hand_ them over,” Ashley added, crossing her arms. “ _And_ they’re hogging all the interesting ones.”

The only non-villain present crossed her own arms and frowned, but didn’t say anything. After all, _she’d_ never actually met the four monks that frequently thwarted her friends’ plans; for all she knew, they could actually be jerks and were hoarding the Wu for their own use. Not that _that_ was very likely, if they were claiming to be the ‘good guys,’ but, well, what could you do? Friends were friends, even if they weren’t the best of people, and the Spicers had a lot of money. Although, if she recalled correctly, according to Jack, most of the time the world was in danger of falling into chaos and destruction, it could usually be traced back to one of the monks. Which…didn’t exactly give them a good track record for supposed ‘good guys,’ but the fact that it hadn’t fallen for _long_ proved that they were, at least, _responsible_.

“Huh, I didn’t realize they weren’t exactly from the temple.” Jack’s voice brought the brunette out of her thoughts. “That’s _so_ cool.”

Ashley leaned over the redhead’s shoulder to peer closer at the screen. “Wait, the girl’s last name is Tohomiko? Like, Toshiro Tohomiko, head of Tohomiko Electronics?”

“Seriously?” Kaitlyn took her own look at the screen now displaying three files across the monitor. Complete with pictures and pages upon pages of text, three of the four monks’ lives were open to their perusal and the brunette felt the slightest twinge of guilt. It was quickly buried when she realized that the fourth monk, frequently described to her as a little, bald, stereotypical monk type, seemed to have no file on screen. “Uh, Jack? Aren’t there four of them?”

The only blonde scanned the display herself before adding, “Yeah. Where’s the bald one?”

Keys clicked away as Jack quickly searched again, but nothing new came up. “Looks like the cheesehead doesn’t have a file. Makes sense; I don’t think he’s ever left that temple ‘til all the Wu started showing up.” He glanced up at the two teens and scowled at how close they were. “By the way, can you two move? I don’t like the hovering.”

Ashley threw her own scowl back. “Well, _excuse_ _us_ , but your computer screen is _tiny_. Can’t you get a bigger one? Or are you spending all that money on new parts?”

The other teen coughed quietly as Jack opened his mouth to retort, pointing at the larger screen across the room with an amused smile and a raised eyebrow when the two villains turned to look at her.

“Oh…right. Gimme a sec.” The redhead darted off to transfer the data to the other screen.

Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Ashley caught Kaitlyn’s eye and shook her head in amazement. “I still don’t get how you _do_ that.”

The brunette’s response was wry. “Lots and lots of practice.”

Black eyes were confused for a moment, before they cleared and an embarrassed flush turned the cat burglar’s cheeks pink. “Oh, not that. How come you never get annoyed the second Jack opens his mouth? I mean, doesn’t his voice just irritate you?”

The other girl blinked and then grinned. “Technically, my answer still applies.” She chuckled at her friend’s frustrated expression. “But, seriously? When he’s not ranting about world domination or how the monks keep destroying his stuff or getting annoyed at _certain_ people, it’s not all that bad.” She shrugged as the wall-sized screen lit up and Jack threw a thumbs-up at her. “I think he actually just wants someone to talk to, but he tries too hard and ends up coming off obnoxious.”

Ashley looked between her friend and the redheaded tech geek for a moment before she scrunched up her face. “Whatever you say.” Her voice was doubtful, but Kaitlyn didn’t let it bother her. Ashley and Jack just tended to rub each other the wrong way. There wasn’t really anything she could do about it, and so long as they could deal with each other when she was around, she honestly didn’t care if they never saw each other, otherwise.

“Alright, so we’ve really only got Raimundo and Clay, if you’re actually gonna go through with this, Ashley,” Jack said as the two teens walked up behind him, putting the lone female monk’s file away and setting each of the remaining files to take up half the screen. “The only relative Kimiko’s got is her dad and there’s no real way _he’s_ gonna go missing without the whole world hearing about it.” The named teen crossed her arms and frowned, surveying the two files the same way she would a store she was planning on stealing from.

“And if you wanna go after Clay’s family, good luck,” the redhead continued, pulling up pictures from the two times he’d had to visit Texas for Shen Gong Wu. “His dad’s scary and his sister’s scarier.” At the blonde’s disbelieving snort, the tech genius added, “ _She’s_ the leader of a biker gang, the Black Vipers, _and_ she kicked Clay’s butt in a Showdown.” He brought a hand to his chin as he thought back to the encounter. “Come to think of it, she got all four losers tied up within minutes _and_ tricked them out of all their Wu by the time I ditched the Wu.”

Ashley shot Kaitlyn a surprised look at the admission. Though Jack was pretty much incapable of winning against the monks nowadays, he was still ridiculously persistent and usually fought them for the Wu, regardless of how things were going. For him to get frustrated enough to leave without the Shen Gong Wu…did not bode well for anyone intending to mess with the girl.

“And Raimundo?” Kaitlyn curiously observed the picture of the Brazilian, as Jack shifted Clay’s file off to the side. The only male in the room quickly skimmed the information.

“Uh, wow.” The self-proclaimed evil genius cleared his throat. “Okay, so he’s got seven brothers and sisters and…a _whole_ lot of aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives.” He glanced at the occupations listed beside some of the names and winced, highlighting the particularly scary-sounding jobs with his finger. “Ooo, I wouldn’t wanna get some of these people annoyed.”

The two girls read the words Jack had his finger on and their eyes widened as they went down the list. Kaitlyn shuddered. “ _I_ wouldn’t wanna irritate any of those people either.” Turning to look at the teen who’d started this entire thing in the first place, she found an amused expression rising to her face. “So…still think this is a good idea?”

Ashley made a face. “The Claws aren’t worth _that_ much,” she said dismissively, though the glance she gave the list proved just how uneasy she was. “I mean, seriously? Messing with some of those people is a practical death wish.”

 “There’s always a price those kinds of people are willing to work for–” The brunette’s voice was amused, but she was quickly cut off by both villains.

“No!”

“Even _I’m_ not that crazy!”

She huffed a laugh at the expressions on her two friends’ faces. “Alright, alright. I was just _saying_.” A teasing smile remained on her face, as she continued, “Don’t worry. I’m not gonna do anything stupid. I don’t want to get involved, remember?” As the other two teens got their breathing under control, Kaitlyn hopped onto Jack’s world-map table and looked expectantly at the tech genius. “So…? What happened since the last time I came by? And what was _up_ with that weird light and the déjà vu I’ve been having?”

 

* * *

 

A black-winged gray bird took flight from its perch on one of the few trees with a perfect sightline into the basement lab. With red-tipped feathers and a red crown, the bird was rather distinctive and, had Jack seen it, he would have known exactly who had been keeping an eye on him. Unfortunately, none of the three teens had even realized that they’d been watched and the bird left unmolested. Not that it really needed to, when its master was sitting on its back, but the pair figured it would be much safer if they discussed what they’d learned elsewhere. Jack Spicer may have been an idiot at plenty of things, but he wasn’t _stupid_. He already knew that Hannibal Roy Bean and the Ying-Ying bird were allies, if not friends, and one look would be all it would take for him to realize that the two had been spying on him.

“Well, now. Isn’t _that_ interesting?” Hannibal mused aloud, an evil grin spreading across his face. He hadn’t expected such a wonderful look into most of his enemies’ weaknesses when he’d decided to pass by Spicer’s place that morning, but now he was very glad he had. Spicer was able to get a surprising amount of information on the monks that would have helped if he had known about it earlier. The bean-shaped villain wondered whether his, er, colleagues knew that three of the four monks were not originally from the temple and had exploitable weaknesses just wandering about out there.

Wuya, he figured, probably already knew most of what he’d found out about Raimundo, especially if what he’d heard about her brief world takeover was correct. If she really _had_ taken a look in the mind of that cursed Dragon of the Wind, then nothing he told her would be new. It _did_ raise the question of why she hadn’t made a move on the Brazilian’s family before this, but the witch had always been more interested in the Shen Gong Wu than actual world domination. He thought it may have been some leftover grudge against Dashi that had her determinedly seeking out his magical toys with which to take over the world with, so that she could later rub it in the monk’s face or something like that.

Chase probably didn’t care, the bean added sourly. The little upstart was still persistently chasing after the Dragon of the Water, though what his one-time apprentice saw in the kid, he didn’t know. He doubted that the kid’s potential was worth all the work the Heylin monk was putting into him, but what did he care so long as the cursed dragon-monk didn’t mess with _his_ plans? Besides, it wasn’t like the Water Dragon was much use, outside of face-to-face honor battles; kid was too straightforward to be interesting, in his humble opinion.

However, the monks were becoming something of a hassle, now that they’d gotten a Shoku Warrior. The kids were getting presumptuous with all their victories against Chase and Spicer and Wuya. It was probably about time that he started poking holes in their confidence and if it let him get even, well, who was _he_ to let the chance slip by?

Hannibal chuckled darkly under his breath. “C’mon, Ying-Ying. We’ve got a witch and a backstabbing former apprentice to talk to.” His partner screeched out an agreement and the pair wheeled off to Chase’s mountain lair. He was sure the other villains would be interested in getting even with the monks who were always thwarting their plans.

 

* * *

 

The light of the moon shone down upon a lone silhouette sitting atop the building hiding the Xiaolin Temple’s Shen Gong Wu vault. The figure was perched precariously on the roof, one leg dangling over the edge while the other was hugged to his chest with his chin resting on his knee. Bright green eyes stared out into the darkness, coincidentally facing the same direction where Wuya’s stone fortress once stood.

Raimundo Pedrosa, destined Dragon of the Wind and current Shoku Warrior, couldn’t sleep and had gone to the roof of the vault building in an attempt to unwind enough to get some rest. The four monks had kicked serious Heylin butt about a month ago, but that hadn’t prevented Master Fung from continuing their training, elemental or otherwise. And with the lack of Wu showing up since before the announcement of Rai as Shoku Warrior, the four younger monks were getting restless.

Well, to be honest, it wasn’t just the lack of Wu that was making the monks uneasy. Omi’s trip through (and complete mangling of) the space-time continuum had given each of the quartet another set of memories where Chase Young was the 1500 year old Xiaolin monk helping them retrieve the Shen Gong Wu and Master Monk Guan was the cursed Heylin monk who’d drunk the Lao Mang Long soup. It was disconcerting, to say the least, when they faced the cursed Chase Young across the battlefield mere hours after Omi had snapped the timeline back into place. Disconcerting and something they were really hoping not to repeat, if the mumblings of the other monks while they had been in the infirmary were correct, though the memories quickly faded in the face of current events. Only Omi had remained silent, but there hadn’t been time to try to figure out what was wrong with the little guy; as soon as they were rested, the elder monks had set the four of them to repairing whatever had been broken in the clash between Xiaolin and Heylin. By the time they had finished several days later, none of them had the energy to dig into the Water Dragon’s problems.

The Brazilian scowled at the reminder of his friend’s problem, making a mental note to find some way of getting Omi to talk. It wasn’t good to keep things bottled up all the time. Not that the Wind Dragon was any better. Old memories of his defection had mixed well with his mirror self’s attempt and both of them were making themselves heard loud and clear. Surprisingly, they weren’t so focused on the exchanges he’d had with his friends or their expressions as he announced his change in allegiance so much as the few occasions Wuya had taken the time to show him a few interesting things. A few interesting _Heylin magic_ things.

With a frustrated sound, Rai shook the thought out of his head. He was a _Xiaolin Dragon_ , for goodness’ sake. He shouldn’t even _consider_ trying anything he’d learnt from that old hag. In both sets of memories, he hadn’t tried it at all, no matter what Wuya had said at the time, but now, when he was Shoku Warrior and had been promoted even before _Omi_? He _itched_ to try it out. What was _wrong_ with him?

Ducking his head and closing his eyes, the recently-promoted monk tried to focus on his breathing and clear his mind, hoping that the meditation techniques would work for once. But the persistent memories slowly wove their way out of the darkness, crowding his mindscape and reminding him of the entire embarrassing experience.

Several minutes of this passed before he let out a defeated sigh, frowning as he stared out into the darkness again. They hadn’t left him alone since he’d recovered from the rebuilding and he hadn’t really expected that a few moments of attempted meditation in the middle of the night would work any better than it had at any other time. That really only left him with one last way of possibly getting them to stop and it was one he _really_ didn’t want to try. Well, at least no one would be awake to notice what he was about to do.

Green eyes fell closed as Rai mentally dove to the source of his power, gently brushing aside the familiar winds that constantly swirled in his soul. They, he knew, represented his Xiaolin powers and he took a moment to appreciate their comfort before he turned to the smoldering embers he knew were hidden behind them.

Back when he’d brought Wuya to full power, the Heylin witch had granted him a small portion of her power with which to fight the other monks. She’d added that it could be considered a reward for restoring her to her body and proceeded to try to teach him how to harness it. At the time, the Wind Dragon hadn’t been all that interested in it, only picking up how to bring the stone goons to life before trying to tune out the rest, but he hadn’t been able to help filing away her lessons in the back of his mind. After all, you never knew when any sort of information could be handy and these were lessons on Heylin magic. _Wuya’s_ Heylin magic, to be specific, and there was always the possibility that she would let some weakness or loophole slip.

And then he’d _finally_ realized what an idiot he was when Wuya captured his friends a second time, and in all the insanity of the old hag’s second defeat, she’d never had the chance to take back the magic that she’d given him. Not that he’d noticed immediately, but around the time he found that meditating actually _did_ help him control his element, he’d also found the little embers of her power, barricaded behind his own hurricane winds and stuffed deep in the depths of his soul. Whenever they encountered her later on, she never seemed to realize that she’d left them there, so Rai kept his mouth shut and tried to ignore their presence, even as they flared against his Xiaolin winds and sparked with his emotions.

Now, though, he reached for them, cautiously encouraging them to burn brighter as he pulled the first of Wuya’s lessons to the front of his mind again. The witch had been a scarily effective teacher, in both timelines, but she had still been busy securing the unconditional surrender of the rest of the world and, with the little interest he’d displayed in actively learning her spells, she’d quickly contented herself with only talking to him about the theory whenever she had some free time.

 _“I switch sides, help you get your body back, and I still gotta have_ lessons _?” An irritated Rai crossed his arms, Golden Tiger Claws strapped to his arm and hood shadowing his face as he scowled at the recently-restored witch. “I thought I said I was done with all that monk stuff. What’s the deal?”_

_Wuya sighed as she looked at him with lazy eyes. “I want to grant you a part of my power for restoring me to my body, but I can’t do that unless I know you can handle it.” She raised a hand to stop the indignant protest she knew the child would give. “I don’t mean that I think you can’t handle it, but Heylin magic is much more volatile compared to your Xiaolin elements. Trust me when I say I was the one of the only ones strong enough to handle both the magic and the training.” The grin she gave him was sharp._

_Uncertainty flickered briefly across the former monk’s face before it was hidden under bravado and a careless shrug. “Alright. What do I gotta do?”_

_He blinked and she was suddenly right in front of him, right hand covered in green flames with her palm against his chest and fingers spread. Her grin was almost feral and the flames in her eyes_ burned _. “Control it.”_

_\---_

_An hour or two later, once the brunet had stopped screaming and finished fighting down the burning in his veins, the Heylin witch returned to check on him. The child was lying on a large, soft bed, staring dazedly at one of the stone walls of the palace, but she could sense the small speck of her power smoldering within him._

_In all honesty, it had been a gamble on her part. She’d known that the child hadn’t been promoted with his fellow monks, but she had been almost sure that it was not for lack of strength; all of Jack’s fights with him and her brief excursion into his mind were proof enough that the Brazilian had more than enough to survive the encounter and the fact that he remained in one piece proved her right. Heylin magic did not bow to those who were weaker than it, after all._

_Pursing her lips in thought, Wuya pulled the former monk out of the bed, ignoring his weak protests as she turned back to the chamber she’d created for the child’s training. She vividly recalled that her own training had involved many,_ many _mishaps and anything she could get Raimundo to begin on would probably be more of the same._

_Of course, she should have expected that those plans would be thwarted the moment she opened her mouth._

_“Hey, does that mean I can make those rock goons now?” Raimundo asked, eyes flickering between her and the general direction of the door._

_She blinked, a little irritation surfacing at the child’s disrespect. “You need start with the basics before—”_

_“Dude, I don’t_ wanna _know the basics,” he cut her off, crossing his arms and daring her to push the issue. “I just wanna be able to make some of those rock guys, in case I’m in a tight spot. I don’t_ care _about the rest of it.”_

_Wuya had to take a couple of breaths, reminding herself that she had no real obligation to the boy except in repayment for restoring her to her body. If the child only wanted to know how to summon stone golems, then that’s all she would teach him. Perhaps later, she would be able to sneak in some more lessons under the guise of conversation…_

Stretching a hand out in front of him, Rai opened his eyes and imagined a small flame flickering to life above his open palm. Nothing happened, though he wasn’t sure whether he was happy or disappointed that it hadn’t worked. He took a deep breath, trying to remember how it felt to make the rock goons, and focused on the spot where he wanted the flame to appear. Again, nothing happened.

Narrowing his eyes at the spot where the flame was refusing to show, the brunet tried one more time with the expectation that a flame would show, regardless of his lack of practice and training. A small, green flame burst to life above his palm, no bigger than a candle’s, and he couldn’t help grinning at the sight. Well, whaddya know? He really _did_ still have it.

The Brazilian was so focused on his success and on controlling the flame that he completely failed to notice that someone was looking up at him from the base of the building. “Raimundo?”

Said monk gave a small surprised yelp, the flame exploding into a massive fountain as he lost control of the magic. A moment later, the green flames were gone as Rai reflexively cut off them off from their source and blew them out, double-checking to make sure that he hadn’t caught anything on fire. And, if it happened to give him a few seconds to gather himself and scramble for an excuse, well, he wasn’t gonna say anything.

Satisfied that nothing was in danger of burning and possible excuse in hand, the Shoku Warrior glanced down to see what his fellow monk was doing awake at this time of night. “Omi? What’re you doing up?”

The smaller monk took a moment to make his way up to where his leader was sitting, flipping off the walls of the nearby buildings to reach the nearest roof and then climbing straight up the side of the vault building. Settling himself next to his older friend, Omi put his arms into his sleeves and looked him over, keeping his silence for the moment. Rai refused to drop his gaze, knowing it would only make him seem guilty and not intending to give the younger monk any reason to suspect him of anything. Or, well, anything _more_.

Several beats passed before Omi finally spoke. “I woke from a dream and did not wish to return to sleep. While I was creating my squares around the temple, I felt something…wrong coming from the vault building, and I hurried over to make sure nothing bad was happening.”

Black eyes stared straight into green, searching for something before turning out towards the darkness. The Wind Dragon had subtly tensed when his friend had mentioned ‘something wrong’ and knew that the Wudai Warrior would probably demand an explanation, once he put two and two together. His friend may have been adorably clueless about the modern world, but he wasn’t blind or stupid.

The silence stretched on as Rai waited for the inevitable suspicion, followed by accusing questions. He wasn’t quite sure what he would say anymore, but he hoped he would be able to give a decent explanation. What he didn’t expect was what his friend actually said.

“Chase Young was the one to teach me ‘Repulse the Monkey’,” Omi mused thoughtfully, as though he wasn’t saying anything particularly special. He glanced at Rai’s face to gauge his leader’s reaction before turning his gaze back out. “When we were searching for Clay who had been possessed by Sibini.” The bald monk’s voice was subdued, only a hint of his normal superior tone coming through. The brunet was beginning to think something was seriously bugging the little guy and it was _not_ something that they could take their time getting around to.

“I was also the one to release Chase Young from the Sphere of Yun to repay my debt. He helped me when I needed it, so I helped him.” The younger monk met the elder’s worried gaze and shrugged, looking down as he fiddled with the edges of his sleeve. The Wind Dragon kept quiet; he had a feeling that Omi wasn’t quite done talking yet and better that he spill now than keep it all inside until he broke. “Raimundo, why…” He hesitated before plowing ahead. “Why can I not bring Chase Young back to good without making the world fall to evil?” His voice cracked. “Why can I not do _anything_ without somehow also allowing the world the fall into darkness?”

Omi’s eyes were beginning to water as he looked up at Rai, the Shoku Warrior’s protective instincts rearing their head at the pain and desperation in those black eyes. At the same time, he was completely taken aback by the smaller monk’s apparent insecurity; he rarely ever admitted that he was anything less than perfect and this unexpected situation was probably what brought the surprised expression to Rai’s face, as he immediately blurted, “What are you talking about, Omi? You’re the one who brought back the puzzle box from Grand Master Dashi and fought Hannibal Bean as those elemental cloud things and stopped Mala Mala Jong that first time and fixed the timeline and—”

“But I was the one to tangle it all up in the first place!” The Water Dragon’s voice was tortured and Rai felt his heart attempting to reach out to Omi, the same way he would any of his siblings who cried and turned to him for reassurance. “And I allowed Hannibal Roy Bean to convince me to master all of your elemental Shen Gong Wu and I allowed Dojo to escape when he was craving Shen Gong Wu and almost let the world fall into one thousand years of darkness.”

The older monk sighed and slowly slung an arm around Omi’s shoulders, giving the younger time to shift out of the way if he wanted to be alone instead. His voice dropped into that comforting tone that he always took when upset siblings were around. “We all make mistakes, dude.” He shrugged as if to say ‘what can you do?’ “You can’t be perfect all the time; _no one_ can.” _Though he was definitely trying_ , Rai though wryly. “Only thing you can do is try to learn from them, so you won’t make the same mistakes again.”

Omi sniffled, snuggling into his leader’s side and seeking comfort as he mumbled, “…Before you three arrived, I was able to be perfect. I never made mistakes and the elder monks would talk about how I was able to master everything.”

“Yeah, but you were pretty much just training and sparring, right? Straightforward things where there was a right answer that you could figure out.” Rai felt a wry smile rise to his lips, but he didn’t look at his friend. These things somehow worked better when you weren’t looking at each other as it was said and _that_ was something he’d learned through trial and error. Besides, he wasn’t sure how Omi would react if the little guy was suddenly brought back to reality, right in the middle of something like this.

“The things we get into, there _are_ no right answers; we just have to make a choice and hope that things work out. If it seems like me, Kimiko, or Clay make less mistakes than you, it’s only ‘cause we’ve been doing this for longer.” He shrugged again. “Practice makes perfect and all that.”

Because that was how things worked out there, shades of gray and shadows everywhere you looked. Omi was sheltered, having been brought up in the temple where good was kindness and consideration and helping others and being honest and bad was lying and destruction and intentionally hurting someone just because you could. Not that Rai would _change_ that, but it made things like this hit the younger monk harder as he scrambled to figure out how to fit them into his worldview.

The two friends fell into a comfortable silence as Omi contemplated the things Rai had said. For his part, the Wind Dragon stared out into the night again, wondering whether he should bring up the green fire now. Although, the way the younger monk had brought up what he had learned from Chase first implied that he had learned more from the Heylin warrior than Rai had thought; ordinarily, he would have expected Omi to demand an explanation or start lecturing him, instead of what seemed to be a trading of secrets.

A shiver from the smaller monk had the older one pulling himself out of his thoughts. He was just about to tighten his grip on his friend and ask whether he was getting cold—damn, these older brother instincts—when Omi spoke again.

“I saw you all die.” The Water Dragon had apparently been sitting on those words for quite a while, if the way they leapt from his lips was any indication. Rai noticed the absent thought in a distant corner of his mind as he struggled with the knowledge that his younger friend had actually _seen_ all of them die. Probably not in a quiet, easy way too, judging from the way he immediately covered his mouth and checked on Rai’s reaction, which probably meant that it was from that whole timeline mess. And didn’t _that_ make so much terrible sense when he recalled the bald monk’s quieter manner and the occasionally-desperate eyes that would follow him and the others around sometimes.

“Yeah?” he finally managed to say, his voice surprisingly even for all his whirling thoughts. “That blows. Guess it was just a matter of time, though; not everyone can live forever.” A morbidly ironic smile twisted Rai’s lips for a moment as he thought about Dojo and Wuya and Chase Young, but it quickly disappeared when he caught Omi’s sniffling, his breath hitching in that way that preceded uncontrollable tears. “Omi…?”

Hesitantly, the older monk tried to check his friend’s face, somewhat surprised that the most prideful of the Dragons would allow himself to break down in front of _anyone_ , let alone a sometimes-rival. The bald monk barely raised his head at his name, but the starlight easily caught the droplets rolling down his cheeks, drawing Rai’s gaze. He hesitated for a moment—because this was _Omi_ and he didn’t quite know how far he could help the Water Dragon before he was pushed away—before his older brother instincts kicked in and he wrapped his friend in a hug as the smaller monk completely broke down.

He remained silent as Omi cried himself out, automatically rubbing his back and rocking a little, but not really doing anything else. There wasn’t really anything he _could_ do for the little guy except keep him company, so he did, while his mind wandered back to the little burning Heylin embers in his soul.

He figured Omi would come looking for him again in the morning and Rai would _really_ have to have something to tell the other monk when the questions came. There honestly wasn’t much to tell, though, outside of the fact that Wuya had apparently never decided to take her power back, but he’d never touched it between his discovery of its presence and tonight. That ought to count for something, right?

As the sniffling slowed, Omi started to lean more into his side and Rai glanced at his friend, chuckling fondly at the exhausted but lighter expression that he now wore. He knew what usually came after such a crying spell. “C’mon. Let’s get you back to bed.”

The younger monk squirmed and mumbled something, probably a protest, as Rai shifted him onto his back, a soft smile playing about his lips as he was reminded again of his younger siblings. The Wind Dragon hopped off the roof, shifting the wind currents to soften their landing, and walked back to their rooms, listening to Omi’s deepening breathing as he went. Not so surprisingly, when Rai put the smaller monk down in his room, he only woke up long enough to curl up and make himself comfortable before drifting back to sleep.

The Shoku Warrior yawned then, rubbing his eyes as a wave of drowsiness washed over him, now that he knew his friends were all sleeping quietly. An unexpected edge of exhaustion made him stumble as he went to his own room, one he probably owed to his use of Heylin magic. He figured it was probably gonna behave like everything else that he’d worked on since arriving at the temple: exhausting at the beginning, but quickly becoming second nature, the more he used it. Though, he wasn’t quite sure he would be using it all that often, unless he could find an excuse to head out and train by himself for a while. Here at the temple, it was _way_ too easy to get caught and he _really_ couldn’t afford to, now that he had been promoted to leader. That said, it could be an awesome hidden weapon, if he got good enough at it.

Settling into what passed for his bed, the brunet closed his eyes and slipped easily into sleep. Everything else could wait for morning.

 

* * *

 

Omi shielded his eyes as a sudden burst of flames rose from the vault’s roof, squinting in the sudden brightness. The light left as quickly as it came, but he was left with little glowing spots in his vision and an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. That had definitely been Raimundo that he had seen, so why was that _Heylin magic_ sprouting from his friend’s hand? Was that where his tiger instincts were insisting that the feeling of something wrong was coming from?

At the sound of Raimundo’s inquiry, the destined Dragon of Water was brought out of his thoughts and he quickly made his way up to the roof. The younger monk held back his first reaction to what he was pretty sure he’d seen his leader do and made himself settle down, trusting that his friend would not harm him if he _had_ turned against the Xiaolin side again. Not that it seemed to be true, but Omi had finally learned that things may not always be as they seemed. It was a painfully hard lesson to learn, though, and the least experienced of the four sometimes wondered how his friends could stand to learn such lessons if they all hurt as much as that one had.

After several moments of just observing each other, the bald monk had to admit that the Shoku Warrior robes fit his friend well; Raimundo honestly deserved them, though Omi tried hard not to think about _why_ he felt that way. Those thoughts led to memories he did not wish to examine and he very much hoped that they would one day fade away like his friends’ memories seemed to have done. It would let him have much more restful nights when they stopped throwing themselves into his eyes.

He finally remembered that Raimundo had asked him a question and pulled himself out of his mind. “I woke from a dream and did not wish to return to sleep.” It was not so much a dream as a memory of another time, but he was not going to admit to that. Maybe, if he ignored them, they would go away faster?

“While I was creating my squares around the temple, I felt something…wrong coming from the vault building, and I hurried over to make sure nothing bad was happening.” He always woke prepared for battle, only to find his friends sleeping soundly and everything peaceful. Instead of falling back asleep, though, he frequently found himself checking to make sure the temple was safe for the night, all the while telling himself that his friends and the older monks were not completely helpless; any battles that occurred would make enough noise to wake everyone up, so what was he worrying so much about anyway?

Of course, _this_ night, he had felt the slightest stirrings of something Heylin around their Shen Gong Wu vault and had hurried over to make sure nothing was happening. With the small amount of Heylin intent that he had sensed, the small monk had been prepared to find Jack Spicer or Katnappé attempting to steal their Shen Gong Wu, but he had only found the familiar shadow of Raimundo sitting on the building’s roof. He had been about to call out to his friend to ask whether he had seen any intruders, but the sudden appearance of a _green flame_ in the Dragon’s hand had caused him to forget his question entirely.

The young monk had stared uncomprehendingly at the contents of his friend’s hand. Was it not Wuya alone who created and controlled green flames? He had never heard of anyone else who could and did wield green flames, and he was almost certain that it would have been mentioned in the temple scrolls if the ability could be learned by others. Had it not been over a year since Raimundo had helped Wuya take over the world and then stopped her? And, not counting the time he had pretended to join Hannibal Roy Bean to recover the Treasure of the Blind Swordsman, Raimundo had never taken an interest in going back to the Heylin side. Or he had not seemed to, Omi remembered to consider, though his chest hurt at the thought of his friend possibly betraying them again. So then, what was _Raimundo_ doing with _Heylin_ _magic_?

Omi searched his friend’s green eyes, a color he had been surprised by when they had first met but one he had quickly come to appreciate as one of the many things the other three Dragons unknowingly taught him. He remembered the way they had darkened in anger, frustration, pain, and vicious triumph when Raimundo turned his back on them to side with Wuya, right in front of them. He remembered them hard with determination and focus and tinged with desperation as he stared down Chase Young and offered the only challenge he could think of that would give them a chance to bring Omi back with them. He even remembered them bright with mischief and happiness and laughter as the four of them dangled about on one of the few days Master Fung allowed them to rest and relax.

But he would always remember the guarded way those green eyes followed all of them, constantly watching and judging as the days passed by and they settled into their new circumstances. The same way they watched him now, though they were also expectant and tinged with anxiety, waiting for him to speak. The smaller monk had picked up on the way his friend tensed as the silence continued, and he was momentarily confused. Why had Raimundo…?

And his hard-won understanding of subtleties provided the painful answer: _the Shoku Warrior was waiting for his accusation_. The Dragon of the Wind fully expected him to leap to an incorrect conclusion and then ignore his attempts at explaining himself, forcing them to go through much pain and fighting before the truth was discovered.

Omi expertly hid the hitch in his breath as the unexpected pain struck his chest, turning his blank gaze out into the darkness. Was he so terrible at being friends that one of his best friends expected him to cause them all pain from one simple observation? An observation that they could just _ask_ him to explain? His mind immediately reminded him of their reactions to Raimundo’s story when the Heylin Comet was visible and their immediate acceptance of Raimundo’s apparent defection to Hannibal Roy Bean when they were just starting their training with Master Monk Guan, and the pain intensified. Perhaps he was not wrong to expect to have to fight for a chance to explain.

The younger monk did not think before he spoke, still reeling from the pain of his realization. “Chase Young was the one to teach me ‘Repulse the Monkey’.”

He shot a glance at his leader when he registered what he’d said, feeling a bit of relief that the Wind Dragon did not immediately begin lecturing him on his actions. Confusion was making its way onto his face, though, so Omi elaborated, “When we were searching for Clay who had been possessed by Sibini.”

Only, now that he had begun speaking of Chase Young, he almost couldn’t stop. The cursed man had helped him when he could, and the Water Dragon had been convinced that Chase still had good inside of him, all the way through to the assignment of the Shoku Warrior quest. And with a clear memory of the other timeline, his thoughts and feelings on the warrior were infinitely confused. He had looked at the armored man across the battlefield and remembered the blue-robed Xiaolin monk who had helped them so much when Master Monk Guan trapped Master Fung in the Yin-Yang World, the one who had saved him and Dojo when they had first arrived in the altered future. At the same time, he could recall the man who had turned him into a cat and then proceeded to enslave his chi-drained friends, forcing the monk beside him to wager their loyalty in exchange for his freedom.

“I was also the one to release Chase Young from the Sphere of Yun to repay my debt. He helped me when I needed it, so I helped him.” He looked up to see concern in Raimundo’s eyes and then dropped his gaze, fidgeting with the edges of his sleeves. He wanted the Shoku Warrior to say something, to stop him from blurting out the question that was on the tip of his teeth, but the Brazilian remained silent.

“Raimundo, why…” He tried to stop himself, but the words fell out of his mouth. “Why can I not bring Chase Young back to good without making the world fall to evil? Why can I not do _anything_ without somehow also allowing the world the fall into darkness?”

Omi turned teary black eyes to his leader, desperately seeking some sort of answer. And it hurt, badly, because, of his three friends, Raimundo was the one who had changed the least in that future where Jack Spicer ruled the world, the only one whose mind was still as sharp and fast as it was now, whose spirit was as strong and indomitable as the wind that he was Dragon of.

The Shoku Warrior looked surprised. “What are you talking about, Omi? You’re the one who brought back the puzzle box from Grand Master Dashi and fought Hannibal Bean as those elemental cloud things and stopped Mala Mala Jong that first time and fixed the timeline and—”

“But I was the one to tangle it all up in the first place!” Omi interrupted him. “And I allowed Hannibal Roy Bean to convince me to master all of your elemental Shen Gong Wu and I allowed Dojo to escape when he was craving Shen Gong Wu and almost let the world fall into one thousand years of darkness.”

Raimundo sighed and slowly slung an arm around the smaller monk’s shoulders. His tone was soothing when he next spoke. “We all make mistakes, dude.” He shrugged. “You can’t be perfect all the time; _no one_ can. Only thing you can do is try to learn from them, so you won’t make the same mistakes again.”

“…Before you three arrived, I was able to be perfect,” he mumbled, leaning into his friend’s side and sniffling a little. “I never made mistakes and the elder monks would talk about how I was able to master everything.”

“Yeah, but you were pretty much just training and sparring, right? Straightforward things where there was a right answer that you could figure out.” A wry smile rose to the Brazilian’s lips, though he didn’t look at the friend nestled into his side. “The things we get into, there _are_ no right answers; we just have to make a choice and hope that things work out. If it seems like me, Kimiko, or Clay make less mistakes than you, it’s only ‘cause we’ve been doing this for longer.” He shrugged again. “Practice makes perfect and all that.”

They shared a comfortable silence for a few moments as Omi thought about what Raimundo had said. His leader had not said anything that he had not heard before, but they somehow seemed to mean more in this time of darkness and silence, where he could imagine that they were the only two around. He shivered at the thought, suddenly reminded of the abandoned and ruined temple that had met his sight when he had gone eighty years into the future. He didn’t _want_ to remember it when Raimundo was sitting right beside him, comfortably warm and alive and breathing and not —

“I saw you all die,” he blurted out, immediately clapping his hands to his lips as though he could grab the words from the air and put them back in his mouth. Wide black eyes darted up to check on his friend’s face, flinching at Raimundo’s sudden stillness and the tension he could feel in the arm still wrapped around his shoulders. A moment later, the Wind Dragon had relaxed and Omi would have thought him unbothered by the announcement, if he had not known his friend as well as he did.

“Yeah?” The brunet’s voice was unconcerned, but the smaller monk could see how his friend was still tense. “That blows. Guess it was just a matter of time, though; not everyone can live forever.” A morbidly ironic smile twisted Raimundo’s lips for a moment, but it quickly disappeared when Omi began sniffling audibly, his breath hitching and his arms rising to wipe at his eyes. “Omi?”

Said monk raised his head a little, trying to hide the tears falling down his cheeks, but Raimundo obviously caught sight of his face. He only hesitated a moment before he wrapped the younger monk in a hug, and Omi found himself crying uncontrollably as he grieved over the deaths of his first and only friends in a future that would hopefully never exist.

Omi did not know how long they sat there, but Raimundo said nothing, only rubbing his back and rocking a little as the younger monk cried himself out. At the end of it, he was leaning against the older monk, exhausted and sniffling and comfortable in the warm circle of his friend’s arms. He found his eyelids very heavy by that time and felt Raimundo chuckle softly.

“C’mon. Let’s get you back to bed.” Omi tried to wake himself up at the feeling of being shifted around, but he only managed to squirm and mumble a protest as the warmth around him was replaced with the cool night air. Several moments of wind rushing past and feeling oddly light followed before a slow, repetitive bouncing lulled him into a doze. The next thing he was aware of, he was being put down in his very familiar room and he could only muster enough energy to curl up around the rarely-used blanket as sleep washed over him.

 

* * *

 

“It seems we have a visitor.” The cool voice of Chase Young rang throughout the main part of his lair as amber eyes spotted the distinctive gray bird of Hannibal’s coming in for a landing. Near one of the pools closer to the entrance, Wuya looked up to see who had come to visit and a small grin rose to her lips when she recognized Ying-Ying.

“Hannibal. How good to see you again,” she said, leisurely making her way up to where the other two villains were having a stare-down, suppressed loathing emanating obviously from both parties.

“And you as well, Miss Wuya.” The bean grinned, breaking off his stare and grinning at the approaching witch, gleefully taking the opportunity to snub his once-apprentice. He didn’t even falter as Chase’s glare became frosty.

“What reason do you have for being here, Hannibal?” The Heylin warrior’s voice was flat and cold, but Hannibal only grinned wider. For once, he didn’t mind the cursed man’s short temper around him, too busy turning over all the information he’d gotten from his brief trip to Spicer’s mansion.

“I seem to have come across an…interesting cache of information,” he said, rubbing his tentacles together evilly. “Computers are a brilliant invention, don’t you think? All that information, accessible at the touch of a finger, if you know what you’re doing.”

Wuya raised an eyebrow as Chase’s expression turned uninterested. “You were spying on Jack? What’s that idiot done now?”

“You really shouldn’t talk bad about the boy,” Hannibal chided, grin still wide across his face. “He has very good taste and he’s surprisingly competent, if you know what you’re doing.”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?” Wuya snapped, a hint of a flush rising to her cheeks, while Chase raised an eyebrow.

“Are you telling me that Spicer has somehow become competent in the last month?” His voice was skeptical.

“Spicer himself?” Hannibal’s voice was greatly amused. “No more than he was a month ago, but it turns out that he has a very practical little friend.”

“Oh, he does, does he?” Both villains were now at least interested to hear what the bean had found out, though for different reasons: Chase was curious about who the idiot Spicer could know who was actually practical, while Wuya was more interested in knowing why she’d never heard of this friend.

“She brought up a couple of things that got me wondering, seeing as I’ve only recently gotten out of Yin-Yang World,” the Heylin demon said lightly, staring hard at the two villains. “Have either of you tried any of the usual tricks on the little runts before leaping headfirst into your grand domination plans? Y’know, blackmailing, kidnapping, extortion, that sort of thing?” He crossed his tentacles and raised an expectant eyebrow.

Chase met his stare with narrowed eyes. “My plan was successful. Omi was and continues to be sympathetic to me, regardless of the number of times we face each other in battle. The only thing I failed to account for was Yang-Spicer and the temple’s dragon actually _succeeding_ in restoring the other monks’ chi. If not for that, the young monk would have kept his word and his loyalty would have been mine, fulfilling the prophecy that would have given me the world.”

 “ _I_ thought it was unnecessary when Raimundo was willing to help me, just to get revenge on his friends.” Wuya shrugged. She didn’t bother mentioning the Dragon’s ridiculous protective instinct, somewhat curious to see what lengths he would go to to keep his siblings safe. After all, from what she’d seen and heard, the Dragon of Wind seemed to be the most practical of the four Dragons and she wondered how far that extended when it came to his enemies.

Hannibal looked unimpressed. “In other words, not really. You’d think that’d be the first thing you try, but I guess y’all are too impatient for it.”

Chase immediately bristled at the slight, while Wuya set a hand on her hip and gave the bean a flat look. “I would _think_ knowing your enemy was more important than simple extortion or kidnapping, as having Yin-Omi swear his loyalty to me guaranteed that the normal Omi would honor his word, regardless of the fact that he was not entirely himself when he gave it.”

“And, unless bribery somehow doesn’t count anymore, I would say I’ve _tried_ using beginner’s tricks to rule the world,” Wuya added, crossing her arms.

The miniature villain huffed. “Well, in case you were interested, Raimundo has a brother who’s looking to make a deal with Pandabubba and four siblings who probably aren’t old enough to know better. _I’m_ planning on meeting Spicer’s friend tomorrow; she seems like a very… _interesting_ person.” With that, Ying-Ying took off, speedily making its way out of Chase’s lair and disappearing into the night.

Wuya blinked in the aftermath of Hannibal’s abrupt exit, just realizing which pronoun he’d been using to refer to Jack’s friend. “Wait a minute. Did he really say ‘she’?” She frowned thoughtfully to herself. “How come she never came by while _I_ was around?”

“Well, now. _That’s_ interesting,” Chase mused, ignoring Wuya’s muttered question. “A deal with Pandabubba, hmm? That sounds like something that can be arranged…”

 

* * *

 

Kimiko walked into the dining room the next morning with a yawn and a stretch, blinking as she noticed that the only other Dragon awake was Clay. The cowboy was wolfing down a plate piled high with pancakes, bacon, and eggs, but he paused long enough to swallow and greet her.

“Mornin’, Kim.”

“Morning, Clay.” She glanced around again, just to be sure she hadn’t missed seeing Omi, but the Water Dragon’s persistent morning cheerfulness was nowhere to be found. “Omi’s not awake yet?” Her voice was shocked as she finally helped herself to the pot of porridge simmering on the stove.

“I know,” Clay said, after swallowing another pancake. “I was surprised too when I got out here. Ended up goin’ back to check his room, jus’ t’be sure, and there he was, still sound asleep.”

“Wow.” Kimiko shook her head as she took a seat at the table and started on her breakfast. “That’s gotta be the first time he’s not awake before us. I mean, it’s kinda expected for Rai, but Omi?” She ate another spoonful as a concerned frown crossed her face. “I hope he’s not sick or anything.”

Clay shrugged, a small frown making its way onto his face as he chewed on some bacon. “Don’ think he was when we went t’bed. ‘Least, not anymore than he has been since that whole timeline mess.”

The Fire Dragon’s frown deepened at the mention of Omi’s attempt at the Shoku Warrior quest. She was still getting the occasional flashback or random memory from whatever was left of that other time, but it always made her shiver at just how different everything had become. And Omi hadn’t really been the same since, much more subdued and with this desperate edge that she didn’t remember him having prior to his trip through the time-space continuum. It worried her that he seemed to be bottling it all up because she _knew_ that was going to bite him in the backside if he continued on like that.

“If he doesn’t get up in another half hour or so, I’m gonna go check on him,” she said, glancing at the doorway as though Omi could hear her from his room.

“Y’don’t mind if I go with you?” Clay grinned at her, though there was an undercurrent of worry in his voice. She shook her head, well aware that the Texan was just as worried about their friend as she was, even if he didn’t show it quite as obviously.

The stated half hour passed slowly with both Dragons occasionally glancing at the doorway as they chatted, becoming more and more concerned the later it got with no little bald monk walking into the dining room. It only made them worry even more when Kimiko checked the time and realized that Rai should have been awake by then, too. Exchanging glances, the two monks got up and quietly headed back to their rooms, just wanting to reassure themselves that their two friends were fine and taking the time to sleep in since they actually had the day off from training.

As they got closer to their rooms, though, they heard Omi’s light steps head towards the hall, only to pause right before he would reach the intersection. The two immediately froze, straining to hear what their friend was planning on doing. The sound of light knocking reached them.

“Raimundo?”

Kimiko’s brow furrowed at the roughness in Omi’s voice, checking with Clay to make sure she hadn’t been imagining it. It sounded like Omi had been crying, but what would he be crying over? Clay shrugged at her questioning glance, unable to think of anything that would bring the prideful and sometimes-oblivious Dragon to tears. Although, with the way he had been looking in the past few weeks, he wouldn’t’a been surprised if the little feller _had_ broken down.

Sleepy grumbles and some shifting drifted out to the two eavesdroppers, followed by a questioning sound. “Mmm, Omi?”

There was Rai’s voice, still thick with sleep. He may have been promoted to Shoku Warrior, but he wasn’t going to give up his sleep if he didn’t have to.

“How are you _awake_ already?”

“It is already ten o’clock in the morning, my friend.” Omi’s voice picked up a little, still a shadow of his usual cheeriness, but more alive than it was a moment earlier.

“And it was probably somewhere around two when we went to bed.” Rai’s grumpy response had Clay and Kimiko exchanging raised eyebrows. What were their friends doing up at two in the morning?

“Seriously, dude? You’re gonna sit there until I get up?” A rustle of cloth that was probably Omi nodding with that determined expression on his face. There was a sigh and then the sounds of Rai sitting up, the blanket settling down again with a whisper. “Man, I hope these answers are worth it.”

They could barely hear the last sentence, but it sparked a wave of confusion and uneasiness. What answers was Rai talking about? And, with that serious tone of voice, should they really be listening in on this conversation? Kimiko quickly shook off her doubts and settled in; there was something going on with her friends and she wanted to know what it was. It sounded like something they _all_ should’ve been talking about, but if they were gonna try to keep it from her and Clay, they had another thing coming. Clay wavered for a moment, half wanting to stay and half insisting that he pick up Kimiko and leave, but then Omi’s voice drifted out into the hall again and he couldn’t help sticking around. The little guy sounded so uncertain.

“Last night, when I…I did not expect you to…Why did you not need to ask Kimiko to help you when I was…”

“Crying?” Rai sounded embarrassed and the two Dragons in the hall could almost imagine their friend blushing. “Uh, well, she was sleeping and _I_ didn’t want to have to wake her up. You remember the last time?”

“But, it seemed like you did not even consider waking her up for help.” A pause. “You have done this before?”

Rai let his breath out in a whoosh. “It’s kinda hard not to when you’ve got a bunch of little kids turning to you whenever something goes wrong. You tend to figure these things out when you get a lot of practice.”

“I see.” Another pause. “…You will not tell Kimiko and Clay about last night?” His voice was hesitant, as though he was worried about asking for too much.

“Not if I can help it. But _you_ gotta find someone to talk to about it, okay? It’s not good to keep it all inside like that.” And wasn’t it _weird_ to hear Rai so serious for so long.

A rustle of clothing. “…Alright.” The reluctance in the Water Dragon’s voice was clear.

“Go talk to Dojo or Master Fung about it. They’ll probably be able to help. Better than _I_ could, at least.”

Omi hummed his acknowledgement and they settled into silence for a bit. Kimiko shifted as she waited, trying to find a more comfortable position for what she expected was going to be a long conversation, while Clay only shifted his weight uneasily, still not entirely sold on this eavesdropping thing. He could just imagine how mad the two inside were gonna be if they found out that he and Kimiko had been listenin’ in on them and didn’t know whether to be worried; both got irritated rather easily, but he didn’t think they’d ever gotten _really_ mad. ‘Least, not since they’d come here.

“Uh, Omi? About the other thing…” Rai’s hesitance had the two eavesdropping Dragons paying sharp attention because a hesitant or sheepish Rai _usually_ followed some sort of released danger to the world.

“Ah, yes! I would like to know how you came to have the ability to use Wmmph—”

“Shhh!” Kimiko narrowed her eyes as she strained to hear what Rai was saying next. Why would he stop Omi from saying whatever he was about to say? A thoughtful frown made its way onto Clay’s face. Rai sure seemed worried ‘bout whatever Omi’d been ‘bout t’say; he hoped it wasn’t anythin’ too bad.

“ _Dude_! Don’t go saying it out loud like that.” Rai’s voice was urgent but quiet, and they could almost _see_ him glance around suspiciously.

“Why not?” Omi asked the question both Kimiko and Clay were wondering, voice innocently curious. “It is not like there are ears inside the walls.”

“That’s ‘the walls have ears’, Omi.” This, they knew, was probably accompanied by Rai rolling his eyes. “Oh, and it’s also ‘making my rounds’ and ‘screwed it up’. From last night.” There was a sigh. “Some of the older monks have long memories and it’s probably better that we keep quiet about this.”

The smaller monk’s voice was confused. “I do not see how that means we should not talk about your ability to u—”

“They haven’t forgiven me for helping Wuya.” The Wind Dragon’s voice was flat, cutting sharply across whatever Omi had been about to say. Kimiko and Clay sucked in sharp breaths, irritation blooming as they exchanged surprised glances at the new information.

Omi was obviously upset, but he was a little unwilling to believe that the monks who had raised him could hold a grudge like that. Tentatively, he said, “Perhaps they only _seem_ like they have not forgiven you and they really…have…” He trailed off.

“They told me that they were only giving me a chance because Master Fung argued for it.” Rai’s voice was even, though it was tinged with bitterness. “If they had their way, I wouldn’t have come back after the whole mess because they ‘had no use for a fallen Dragon,’ and it was ‘much easier for a fallen Dragon to turn his back on his friends’ than a normal one.” His voice darkened. “It probably didn’t help when they found out that I’d pretty much betrayed Wuya, too.”

“But then, I…” There was a tinge of fear in the younger monk’s voice and the two Dragons in the hall recalled that he had also once switched sides.

There was a rustle of clothing. “You weren’t yourself when you swore loyalty to Chase and then you kept your word to him anyway; all _I_ heard from them was praise for being such an amazing example of a Xiaolin monk and how skillful you were to find a way to return to the temple without breaking your word.”

“But, it was not _I_ who discovered how to escape.” Omi sounded confused again, but he was cut off by Rai.

“I know.”

Several moments of thoughtful, troubled silence passed.

“Y’know, if you still wanted the Shoku Warrior position,” Rai said, almost carelessly, “all you’d have to do is tell the elder monks that you didn’t think I was doing a very good job and you’d have it.”

Kimiko leaped to her feet at that, fully prepared to stomp into that room and demand to know what the Wind Dragon was thinking, but she quickly stopped short when Clay grabbed her in a bear hug. She immediately began struggling, pulling at her element to help her get free, only for Clay to tighten his grip. The Japanese girl fell limp, mind focusing on getting enough air to actually, y’know, _breathe_ , and Clay slowly relaxed.

“Y’can’t go barging in there, like that, Kim,” he hissed in her ear. “Didja want them t’know we’ve been listenin’ to them talk this entire time?”

“But…” Clay raised a finger to his lips as Omi’s voice drifted into the hall, confused and shocked and hurt.

“I do not think you are doing a _bad_ job and I can see now that you deserve it very much.” There was a trembling in his voice as he said the last half of the sentence that didn’t quite seem to be jealousy or envy or anything that they expected he would feel for losing out on the leadership position. In fact, he almost sounded both ashamed _and_ on the verge of tears, a combination they weren’t sure they’d _ever_ seen on the youngest monk before.

There was a searching pause, followed by a whump that the eavesdropping dragons assumed was Rai flopping backwards onto his blankets. “They weren’t happy when I got the promotion. Actually came and told me that they would be watching, and if I made _any_ mistake, I could expect to be shown the door.” He clarified a moment later, “They’d kick me out.”

“Master Fung—” Omi sounded outraged.

“Can’t do squat. Uh, anything.” Rai’s voice was matter-of-fact. “He told me that the only way he could get them to agree to the tricking Hannibal plan was if he didn’t stop them if they decided they were done with me.” There was a rustling of cloth and footsteps on the floorboards. Clay and Kimiko exchanged panicked looks as they started tiptoeing away. “So, that’s why I didn’t want you talking about it right now; y’never know who might be listening in.”

“Oh, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone I told you about what the old geezers said. I wasn’t exactly supposed to be talking about it, if you know what I mean.” The sentence had the two freezing in place, before turning around with sheepish expressions on their faces. Rai looked at them with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms, leaning lazily against the doorframe. Omi peeked out of the doorway with a scowl and a hint of a blush on his cheeks.

“And it is most disrespectful to listen to other people talking without them knowing,” Omi added chidingly.

Clay frowned at that. “Wait a minute. Y’mean you _didn’t_ know we were here, lil’ pardner?”

“Not until Kimiko moved around and you shifted your feet,” the smaller monk admitted.

They looked at the Brazilian, who shrugged. “ _I_ knew since I got up, but it was just you guys, so I didn’t think I had to worry about it.”

“Then could you show us whatever it was you didn’t want Omi talking about?” Kimiko asked, trying not to sound too curious.

“Oh, yes! I would like to see it in my face and personally also,” Omi added cheerily. “I have also not forgotten that you did not answer my question.”

Clay smiled at the smaller monk. “I think you mean ‘up close and personal.’”

“Exactly!” Omi beamed as he pointed at the Earth Dragon.

“An’ which question was that exactly, pardner?” The Texan continued. “Y’didn’ exactly get t’finish asking any of your last few questions, from what we could hear.”

“Alright, alright,” Rai relented, though there was an undercurrent of honest reluctance in his voice. “I’ll show you guys. But try not to freak too badly, alright?”

The quartet headed back into their sleeping quarters, settling into a rough circle in the Brazilian’s room. Said monk glanced nervously at his friends for a moment before closing his eyes.

“Oh, and Omi?” One green eye slid open to look at the bald monk.

“Yes, Raimundo?” The Water Dragon watched him expectantly.

“ _Please_ don’t try to give me advice.” The eye closed again. “I _really_ can’t afford to lose control of this.”

“Alright, my friend. I shall zip my lips closed.”

Clay and Kimiko exchanged looks, before the Fire Dragon said, “I think you mean ‘my lips are sealed.’”

Omi nodded furiously in agreement, but he didn’t speak, keeping his eyes on Rai as the latter concentrated. The former knew what was supposed to come next and, though he was still uncertain as to whether his friend _should_ be using them, the flames were _very_ pretty to look at when they were not being thrown at him.

The Wind Dragon breathed meditatively for several moments, and the other three Dragons began shifting uneasily as they sensed Heylin intent emanating from their friend, unconsciously huddling closer together while they waited. The feeling brought back uncomfortable flashbacks to the time he had betrayed them for Wuya and they all couldn’t help doubting him for a brief moment. Though, it also made them realize that the lack of painful echoes during his apparent defection to Hannibal Bean should have been a huge sign that the Brazilian hadn’t actually switched sides again, regardless of the way he had attacked them. There had also been a surprising lack of taunts during that trap, something they’d absently found odd, but it had been overshadowed by their shock and pain at what he had seemed to be doing right then.

They were brought out of their thoughts as Rai cupped his hands and slowly opened his eyes, gaze distant but aimed at the space inside his hands. There was a dry feeling in the air, one Kimiko was intimately familiar with, but she barely had a moment to connect the dots before a small ball of _green_ flames burst into life in their leader’s hands, throwing flickering shadows against the walls of Rai’s room. The Fire Dragon felt her jaw drop at the sight of the horribly familiar flames, shock and confusion warring with anger and reflexive rejection, as she glanced up to check the others’ reactions. Clay was gaping at the flames in shock, but he quickly replaced that with gritted teeth and clenched fists; she was pretty sure he was a hair’s breadth from demanding what _exactly_ Rai had done to get those flames in the first place. Omi was staring at the ball of flames with awe and the slightest hint of uneasiness on his face; an idea stirred behind his eyes, but Kimiko ignored it for the moment to check on her last boy.

Her heart dropped at the sight of Rai’s face in the light of the green flames, his gaze still distant as he concentrated, but somehow sliding perfectly over the darkly-triumphant expression in her memories. She suppressed her instinct to recoil and pulled her gaze away, catching Clay’s eye for a second, before the dawning fear in the Earth Dragon’s expression had her spinning to see what had drawn his gaze. Upon seeing Omi reach out to the fire, her hand immediately darted out to stop him, knowing from experience that burns were painfully irritating and assuming that Wuya’s green flames would probably hurt just as bad, if not worse, than her own. She needn’t have worried; before Omi could even reach three-quarters of the way to the flames, Rai had shifted his hands and closed them over the ball of fire, trapping and extinguishing the flames as he exhaled. The hovering cloud of Heylin intent dissipated as quickly as it had come and the Brazilian’s green gaze, present and aware again, darted anxiously between the three of them.

He coughed nervously. “So, uh, yeah. That’s it.”

There was a moment of silence as Kimiko and Clay digested what they’d just seen and Omi stared blankly at where the flames had been a second ago. Then, the smallest monk blinked and pulled his hand back, staring at it with a thoughtful frown, while Kimiko opened her mouth to demand an explanation. She was beaten to the punch by Clay, who spoke through gritted teeth.

“Rai.” His hands were curled into fists at his side and his voice carried a dangerous warning. “You better have a good explanation, pardner, or this ain’t gonna be pretty.” Blue eyes _glared_ at the tanned Dragon whose own eyes widened and then narrowed at the impending threat. He opened his mouth, no doubt to deliver a smart response, and was cut off by Kimiko.

“How and why can you make those flames? Because if you got them from who I _think_ you did…” Her voice dropped dangerously. “What _exactly_ did you trade for it?”

Omi’s head snapped up at Kimiko’s last question, eyes widening in shock at the accusation woven heavily through the words, and he immediately glanced at Raimundo. Hurt and resignation flashed in the Shoku Warrior’s green eyes before it was expertly hidden away behind familiar walls of affected nonchalance. He wasn’t quite good enough to stop the defensiveness that leaked into his tone, though.

Raising his hands as if to slow the emotional and verbal barrage in his direction, Rai said, “Hold up, guys. Just gimme a sec to actually _answer_ , will you?” The Fire and Earth Dragons settled back down after a moment, the former raising an eyebrow expectantly while the latter crossed his arms; they also happened to be between him and the door, and the Wind Dragon was beginning to feel a little trapped.

“Right.” He eyed them with a hint of wariness. “So, you remember how I could summon those rock guys when I was working with Wuya?” He got two grudging nods and a confused look. “This was when you and Jack were trying to open the puzzle box, while those two kept me distracted.”

“Ah!” Omi nodded then.

“Well, you sorta need to have Heylin magic for that to work,” he said, looking away while keeping the two irritated Dragons in the corner of his eye.

“ _Not_ that I asked for it,” he added hastily, waving his hands in front of him. “Wuya just gave it to me as a ‘reward’ for helping her get her body back.”

Kimiko and Clay exchanged unreadable looks. “I dunno, buddy. That seems a bit…convenient, don’tcha think?”

“Yeah,” Kimiko agreed. “No catch, no bargain, nothing? Just, here, have some magic?”

“I’m telling the truth!” he insisted. “She just _gave_ it to me, I swear!”

Omi got to his feet. “Well, _I_ believe he is telling the truth.”

“Uh, no offense, lil’ guy, but you don’t exactly have the best track record in picking who’s trustworthy,” Clay pointed out.

“But he was chosen to be Shoku Warrior,” the Water Dragon argued. “He would not have been promoted if he were not at least marginally trustworthy.”

“Thanks, Omi,” Rai said flatly. He knew the smallest monk was just trying to be helpful, but he still wasn’t all that great at _not_ offending people.

“Besides, you can trust Chase to keep his word, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s telling the truth,” Kimiko added. Omi snapped his mouth shut at that, glancing away as he was reminded of the bewildering opponent-mentor who kept watching over him.

Rai threw up his hands, exasperated annoyance clear in his voice. “Alright, fine! I’ve somehow stolen some of Wuya’s magic, she apparently doesn’t want it back, and I can make fire with it.” He scowled and crossed his arms. “Are we done here? I’d like to actually get something to eat today.”

Kimiko and Clay looked at each other and shrugged, both wearing faintly suspicious looks as they got to their feet and left. Omi gave him a worried glance and refused to move.

“Omi…”

“I did not expect Kimiko and Clay to react like _that_ ,” said monk said, ignoring whatever the Brazilian had been about to say. At the expression on his face, Rai sighed and dropped his façade.

“You and me both,” he muttered, turning to grab his robes. “I should have expected it, though. They’ve never changed sides.” He paused. “Well, at least not for long and completely aware of which side they were on.”

The smaller monk blinked. “You were not on the Heylin side for long, either.”

“But I _did_ stick around long enough to get taught stuff.” He pulled off his pajama top and shrugged his robes on, quickly switching his pants as he spoke.

“I suppose,” Omi acquiesced. “But, what does that have to do with this?”

Rai tied off his sash and turned back to face his younger friend, green eyes unusually serious. “They don’t quite get that, sometimes, it helps to have a little bit of questionable help on your side.”

Snapping his fingers to emphasize his statement, the Wind Dragon directed a darker smirk at the Water Dragon as a small green flame burst from his fingertips and dissipated into the morning air. He then stepped around the other monk and disappeared into the hallway, leaving Omi to stare after him with a disconcerted look in his eyes.

 

* * *

 

Kaitlyn yawned as she walked down the stairs into Jack’s lab, absentmindedly sidestepping some mechanical parts lying on the ground. She’d spent the night in one of the redhead’s many guest bedrooms, something that she’d frequently done before her parents had dragged her off to see the world for a few months, and she was ridiculously grateful to return to one of the familiar bedrooms that was, more or less, hers. She and Ashley had ended up hanging around the Spicer mansion until late into the night, getting Jack to catch them up on current events and swapping hilarious stories about what they’d been up to in the meantime.

That was one of the few reasons she _didn’t_ immediately try to have the black, gray, and red bird captured when she spotted it sitting atop Jack’s world-map table, staring at her. She blinked at it and rubbed her eyes, but it continued to sit there, calmly looking her in the eye. The brunette turned a little and raised her voice, knowing from experience that it would carry all the way to the second-floor bedrooms.

“Jack? There’s a parrot down here.” Brown eyes studied the bird for a moment. “I think it might be Ying-Ying.” There was a faint thump and a small yelp, followed by hasty, scrambling footsteps. Kaitlyn rolled her eyes; it sounded like the tech genius had fallen out of bed in surprise and was now hurrying to get presentable enough to entertain. Meanwhile, she turned her gaze back on the bird.

“If you _are_ Ying-Ying,” she muttered to herself. “Then Hannibal Roy Bean must be around here somewhere.”

“You’ve got that right, miss,” a gruff, accented voice came from the direction of the bird as a small red speck hopped off the animal and landed on the table. “And what a pleasure it is to meet you.”

She raised an eyebrow in surprise. Somehow, even when both Jack and Ashley insisted that Hannibal Roy Bean was actually a bean, she still hadn’t been able to wrap her mind around it until that very moment. However, she _wasn’t_ surprised by the wariness she felt once she’d confirmed the intruders’ identity. From what legends and stories she’d heard, coupled with the first-hand accounts Jack had given her, this villain was as dangerous as they came, more because of his words than his actions, but neither ability was to be discounted.

That was what probably led her to fall back on the training she’d been forced to take, seeking refuge in the distance and formality that made up much of the exchanges her parents had with other influential people.

“The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Bean,” she returned, inclining her head in an abbreviated bow and keeping her eyes on the red speck on the table. “What brings you here today? Business with Jack?”

“If I wanted to talk to _that_ idiot, I’d’ve shown up in his room.” The brunette raised an eyebrow at the dismissive tone the miniature villain took. “No, actually, _you_ were the one to bring up some…interesting points yesterday and I must thank you for giving me all that information on the four little runts.”

Her face blanked as she registered that Hannibal had been watching them yesterday without a single one of them realizing that he was even in the area. Shock and the beginnings of fear fought with a growing sense of guilt as an automatic smile quirked her lips.

“I see. Then, I suppose I am happy to be of assistance.”

“Come now. No need for all that _formality_ ,” he replied in a coaxing tone. “I’m here on a friendly visit, after all, and I get enough of _that_ from Chase Young.” The red speck seemed to shift a little. “Speaking of which, I never got your name…?”

“Kait?” Ashley said as she walked up to the railing. Spotting the bird, the cat-obsessed teen blinked and stared thoughtfully at it. “Hey…isn’t that the bean guy’s bird? One of the guy’s Jack’s obsessed with?”

The brunette shot the blonde a flat look as Hannibal said delightedly, “‘Kait,’ short for Kaitlyn, I assume?”

The only non-villain nodded reluctantly. “You assume correctly. And, _yes_ , that’s Hannibal’s bird.”

The other teen gave her friend a weird look. “Why are you _talking_ like that? It’s just Hannibal, and Jack says he’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah, but Jack says a lot of things are pretty cool,” Kaitlyn pointed out dryly. “Like explosions, plots for world domination, pudding cups, and Chase Young. His word’s not exactly the best measure for much, don’tcha think?”

Ashley hummed her agreement, but the brunette blinked when she realized what she’d said. With a voice laden in exasperation, she asked aloud, “And how am _I_ the one doubting his words when _I’m_ his friend and you just tolerate him?”

“Just sounds like you know him better,” Hannibal interjected, making Kaitlyn flinch at the reminder that the demon _was_ actually still present. “Which I find _very_ interesting because not even little Chase-Young-must-still-have-good-in-him Omi can stand the boy for long.” She tensed at the obvious interest in the villain’s voice. “Add on the fact that you seem a lot more practical than both the idiot and the kitty there and it makes me wonder what you _else_ you can see that the rest of us overlook.”

As he finished speaking, an odd feeling rippled through the air, one that had Hannibal and Ying-Ying turning in the direction it originated from. Kaitlyn quickly squashed the urge to glance in that same direction, but she wasn’t quite fast enough to stop herself from twitching. It was a _really_ weird feeling, part light, breezy wind, part heavy, flickering fire, and both swirling around each other, but it slipped away a moment later as Jack _finally_ stumbled down the stairs.

“Hannibal!” Jack spread his arms in welcome with slightly starry eyes. At the base of the stairs, Kaitlyn fought the urge to face-palm. She couldn’t _quite_ figure out how Jack could forgive everyone so easily every time they turned their backs on him or used him in their own plans, but then _she_ wasn’t the evil villain here. And, she had to admit, Hannibal _was_ one of Jack’s villainous idols, so she had to give him that.

He was immediately shot down before he could even _begin_ to gush. “I didn’t come by to see you, boy.” Hannibal’s voice was uninterested. “I came to meet your friend and _she’s_ turning out to be much more interesting than you’ve _ever_ been.”

“What?” Jack’s voice peaked as he stared incredulously at the red speck on his table. “How’s _Ashley_ more interesting than me?”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean, loser?” said blonde demanded, crossing her arms and arching an expectant eyebrow. Their brunette friend gave up and dropped her head into her hands, shaking it in exasperation as the two began sniping at each other. Frankly, she was amazed that the other villains hadn’t gotten rid of the two of them yet, though that may be more because they avoided putting the two teenage villains together whenever possible than actual patience.

“So, how is it that a child, not involved in the battle between Xiaolin and Heylin, is spiritually sensitive enough to feel that disturbance earlier, hmm?” Hannibal’s voice came from right beside Kaitlyn’s ear and she jerked in surprise, head snapping upright and gaze falling on the empty spot where the red speck that was Hannibal had been several moments ago. A quick glance at her friends showed that they hadn’t heard the villain speak as they continued arguing and calling each other names.

The brunette scowled hard at the ground. “It can’t be _that_ surprising that I can, considering the scale of some of the battles you guys get into, what with all the world domination plans.”

“Well, your friends didn’t seem to notice it, did they?” The bean’s voice was amused. “And _I_ would’ve assumed that they would, seeing as _they’re_ actually looking for the Shen Gong Wu.”

She kept quiet, not knowing what else to say but not really wanting to explain _how_ she could feel the changes in the balance. Hannibal chuckled at her stubborn silence.

“Hows about I take a guess, hmm?” She felt a minute shifting on her shoulder as the villain settled down to speak. “You may not have gone after the Shen Gong Wu, but you always try to keep up to date with what’s been happening. I’m pretty sure you’ve memorized what each of the Shen Gong Wu can do, even though you’ve never seen them in your life. You would _love_ to actually use one, but you also know it’s not very smart to go looking for one.” He paused for a moment. “How’m I doing so far?”

He took the tension in her shoulders and her rising pulse as his answer and a smug grin slowly stretched across his face. “You seem like the type to pay particular attention when odd things happen and that makes you more sensitive to those sorts of things when you get around to meditating. I have the feeling that you were, mmm, let’s say, _in the area_ when Wuya got her chance at world domination and _that_ pushed your abilities into your consciousness.” He tapped his nonexistent chin thoughtfully. “It would certainly explain why you were able to feel the ripples earlier, but you didn’t notice me until you saw me.”

The tension he could feel held for a moment longer before she blew it all out with a long exhale, though her pulse continued to flutter like a sparrow’s. “Your reputation for reading people and ferreting out the truth is well-deserved, Hannibal Roy Bean,” she finally murmured, her gaze drifting up to her oblivious friends and then over to Ying-Ying. “So, what happens now?”

“Now, I believe you owe me a favor.” His voice was sly and smug.

Kaitlyn paused, eyes narrowing suspiciously though she knew he couldn’t see it. “What sort of favor? Because there _are_ things that I _will not_ do, regardless of what I owe you.”

The villain chuckled. “Oh, I could get used to you.”

 

* * *

 

Back at Chase’s lair, Wuya raised her head at the disturbance that rippled through the air, furrowing her brow in confusion as she recognized the base signature of the magic. It _felt_ like her magic, but she hadn’t been able to access it since Chase had restored her to her body and she highly doubted that he’d give it _back_ anytime soon. Said cursed man glared at her from the top of the steps leading into his meditation chamber, silently demanding an explanation.

With a roll of her eyes, she said, “I have _no_ _idea_ what just happened, Chase. You _know_ I can’t wield my magic because _you_ took it from me. So, I don’t know _what_ you want me to say.”

He turned his amber gaze in the direction that the ripple came from, eyes narrowed in thought. “It came from the Xiaolin Temple, though who it came from may be more difficult to tell. It did not seem to be Omi who caused it, though.”

The Heylin witch suppressed her urge to snort at the warrior’s obsession with the bald monk. She couldn’t understand why such a powerful and rather successful villain continued to chase after the youngest, most obnoxious monk for his apprentice, but, hey, whatever works for him. Her brief attempt at picking up one herself had only resulted in a Hannibal-Chase sort of thing, though perhaps she shouldn’t have chosen to pick a traitor in the first place; she could appreciate the sequence of events in a wryly admiring sort of way, even as she told herself that she should’ve paid more attention to the brat. There was a reason Dragons of Wind were dangerous and it _wasn’t_ only because of their element.

She frowned as a thought occurred to her. Was it possible that Raimundo still had a portion of her power? She’d originally dismissed the thought when she’d been restored to her body by Chase, figuring that all of her magic had been torn from the world by Dashi’s spirit the same way it had when she had first been sealed inside his cursed puzzle box, but now she wondered. She remembered hearing tales of skilled magicians who had conquered the magic their masters had given them early in their apprenticeships, rising to power in their own right to stand beside them much quicker than many would anticipate. Could the green-eyed child be one of _those_ apprentices or was she only reviving ancient stories?

Perhaps a visit to her one-time apprentice was in order, even if she’d never formally had the position acknowledged. At least, once Chase started ignoring her again and she could go about doing her own thing without his crow or his cats trailing at her heels.

 

* * *

 

“Something’s going on with the kids,” Dojo Kanojo Cho muttered to himself as he watched the four monks training in the courtyard. Each monk would normally begin sparring against the one who wielded the opposite element, the two fights somehow eventually degenerating into a friendly four-way free-for-all competition where the winner got first pick of the chores, but today, there was an almost-solid wall of tension separating Omi and Rai from Kimiko and Clay. The longer he watched, the more certain he was that something the former two had done had unsettled the latter two, and the temple guardian hoped that it wouldn’t affect their fighting too badly when things finally started picking up again. Because there was something in the air that spoke of things preparing to boil over and he wasn’t sure that the four kids would be able to weather it when it finally broke.

It also didn’t escape his notice that the four had been split right down the middle with the ones who had never switched sides on one side and the ones who had on the other. That could probably help clue him in to whatever it was that was keeping the four apart, if he really cared to poke at the situation, but it was currently giving off a very good impression of a barrel of explosives. And with Master Fung talking to the elder monks to try to figure out what that odd little ripple of Heylin intent was doing so near the temple, he didn’t think it was such a great idea at the moment.

He was _very_ glad he hadn’t when he stumbled across Raimundo several hours later, hiding behind a wall of bushes and emitting Heylin intent, a stream of green magical flames dancing between his fingers. In his shock, he didn’t think and immediately exclaimed, “Raimundo!” only to swallow and dive for cover as he waited for the young monk to lose control.

The Wind Dragon jumped in surprise, the flames exploding in size before quickly fizzling out as he yelped, “Dojo! What’re you doing here?”

The green dragon peeked out from where he’d hidden behind a tree and blinked in surprise at the lack of charred foliage. “Huh. Well, whaddya know?”

“Dojo?” Rai’s wary voice reminded him of his original train of thought.

“Oh, thanks for reminding me.” He then threw himself at the brunet’s face and stared him straight in the eye. “ _What do you think you’re doing, mister_?” The Shoku Warrior seemed to wilt at the demand, but Dojo rolled right along. “I thought you had more _sense_ than that, practicing that sort of thing out here where any of the other monks could trace that Heylin intent straight back to you. Don’t you remember that the elders are, more or less, out to get you? What do you think would happen if they’d been the one to find you instead of _me_? Not even _Master Fung_ would have been able to talk them into keeping you.” He pulled back and slapped the tanned monk on the back of the head to emphasize his lecture.

“Ow!” Rai rubbed at the spot, eyeing the temple guardian in confusion. “Uh, you aren’t mad about the flames?”

“Mad?” Dojo blinked at him. “Why would I be mad?”

“Hello? They’re _green_ flames!” Rai pointed out. “Green! Y’know, like Wuya’s? Aren’t you gonna ask how I got them or why I have them or what I’m doing with them or _anything_?”

“Kid, you’re talking to the fifteen-hundred-year-old dragon, remember?” said dragon reminded him. “I was actually _around_ when that sort of magic was making its rounds through civilization. Not that it had a very good reputation during that time either, but I already _know_ how you’d get them and I _can_ recognize when someone’s practicing, thank you _very_ much.” He crossed his arms and looked away, snout in the air.

“Oh…right.” Rai’s voice was sheepish and he rubbed his other arm in embarrassment. Dojo opened his eyes at the uncharacteristic response, uncrossing his arms and looking up at the Brazilian.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Concern was clear in the dragon’s voice.

Rai shrugged, but he also wouldn’t meet his gaze. “Nothing really. I was just expecting something more along the lines of Kim’s reaction. Or Clay’s. Not Omi’s.”

“Ah.” Dojo nodded wisely. “Outrage and shock and suspicion, right?” He tapped his lips. “Although, I would’ve expected Omi to be the one with that reaction, not the other two.”

“The little guy caught me the first time I was trying it out and we talked about some things,” Rai explained vaguely, settling back down to get back to practicing.

In a way, learning to control the Heylin magic was refreshing, something new that he was figuring out all by himself with no limits except for his stamina and his creativity. Control didn’t come as easily as it had when he’d started working with wind either because _that_ was just learning to _direct_ the air he _already_ knew in different ways. _This_ was challenging because it _fought_ his will, _demanded_ that he prove himself capable, and _dared_ him to constantly test himself against it; it _refused_ to bow to one whose strength it _could not_ respect and that made him want to work all the harder for it. Because the magic didn’t just respect _physical_ strength, it respected _all_ the different kinds. It could almost be considered _alive_ , in a way.

Dojo hummed thoughtfully at that. “You might wanna try heading out into the mountains to practice,” he suggested as he wrapped his tail around Rai’s neck. “It’ll probably stop the elders from practically having heart attacks every time they feel the Heylin intent peaking when you pull out those flames.”

Rai froze. “What did you say?”

The dragon blinked. “Which part? The practicing in the mountains part or the giving off Heylin intent like Jack and Katnappé do part?”

The human groaned, slumping back onto the ground. “So, _that’s_ why they looked so uncomfortable this morning.”

Dojo raised an eyebrow. “You mean you didn’t notice?”

Rai shook his head and Dojo frowned. “That’s weird. As far as I know, that’s only supposed to happen when you’ve been using it for quite a while.” He poked the Wind Dragon’s cheek. “How long have you been using them?”

“Uh…” Green eyes stared up at the sky as their owner thought back. “Once this morning, once last night, and for the last hour or so. Nothing between today and when I trapped Wuya in the puzzle box. And I made a bunch of rock dudes when I was…y’know.” He waved his hand to indicate the time he’d betrayed the temple.

“Oh, _right_.” Dojo snapped his fingers. “I remember now. So, that’s probably another couple of hours for learning and practice on top of all that other stuff.” He hummed thoughtfully. “I _still_ don’t think that’s enough. Unless…” He glanced around with a distant look, pointing and muttering to himself as he tried to remember where golem summoning was in the hierarchy of spells. The brunet turned onto his side and leaned the side of his head on his fist, watching the green dragon dart around their small section of the garden. With his other hand, he lit a flame in his palm, only to put it out as he closed his hand, repeating the exercise over and over while he waited for Dojo to finish up whatever he was doing and tell him what was up.

Several minutes later, the temple guardian nodded to himself, turning to Rai with a triumphant, “I got it!”

The Wind Dragon cracked open one eye to show that he was awake, having lain back down and closed his eyes a while ago. “Yeah?”

“Yup. The reason you’re already giving off the Heylin feeling is ‘cause golem summoning’s an upper-level spell.” Dojo made his way over to where the monk was lying in the grass, but he was momentarily sidetracked when he remembered something else. Heading up to the hand Rai had resting across his stomach, the dragon lifted it up and examined the palm. Its owner opened both eyes to watch as the dragon hummed at what he saw.

“The kind of spell that beginners don’t usually start on until they’ve been using their magic for a couple of years, at least.” He let go of that hand and Rai used it to cushion his head as Dojo examined his other hand, bemusement written all over the brunet’s face. “From what I remember, they usually start out with little things like those fireballs you’ve been making and slowly work their way up to stuff like those golems and Wuya’s palace. But _that’s_ supposed to be _decades_ after they get their magic, not hours.” The dragon let go of the monk’s hand and looked up to see whether the teen understood what he was saying. It took a moment, but realization and surprise dawned on Rai’s face.

“Wait, you mean I’ve got some sort of _talent_ with this stuff?” He sat up and stared incredulously at the green dragon who huffed and set his hands on his imaginary hips.

“I’m saying there’s a couple things I want to check before I say anything for sure, but it certainly seems like it. First, we’re gonna have to head out into the mountains.” He paused for a moment, dropping his arms to his side as he stared searchingly at the Shoku Warrior. “Wuya was the one who taught you, right?”

Rai blinked at the question, feeling a little off-balance at the sudden change in focus. “Uh, yeah.” He pushed himself to his feet and Dojo quickly wound his way up to the Brazilian’s neck. “I don’t exactly know anyone else who could have, do you?”

The guardian ignored the question and glanced down at his ride’s hands, grudging respect clear in his voice as he said, “She’s a surprisingly good teacher.”

“Whaddya mean?” The Wind Dragon looked down at his own hands, wondering what had prompted Dojo to make the statement.

There was a beat of silence. “It wasn’t all that surprising to find a magician with scarred hands, back in the day.” The dragon’s voice was trying for its usual offhandedness, but it was failing miserably. “From pushing too far too fast and having their magic lash out when it turned out they couldn’t handle the higher-level spells yet. A lot of apprentices would have them from trying out spells they weren’t ready for while their masters were away and there were some who could tell exactly what spell had caused which scars, just by sight. Usually the healers, but some of the older masters could too.” He nodded towards Rai’s unmarked hands. “It’s a testament to both of your abilities that you don’t have any, even when you skipped almost all the way to the top before your magic really had a chance to settle.”

The brunet looked searchingly at his own hands, trying to imagine what Dojo was saying but not really able to. “Huh. I guess she meant it when she said I needed to start with the basics.”

“Though it seems like you didn’t actually _need_ to,” the green dragon said. “Anyway, there’s a scroll I want you to get from the library. It’s most likely gonna be in a chest _all_ the way in the back, under the temple’s construction plans and between the shelves for gardening and feng shui. We’ll need it if you’re planning on using that magic any more than you already have.”

Rai changed his course accordingly and lowered his voice as he passed by a couple of older monks. “So, what’s the scroll _for_ exactly? And what’s with all the help?” He glanced at the dragon draped over his shoulders. “I thought we weren’t exactly supposed to have anything to do with Chase and Wuya and all of them.”

Dojo snorted. “Not that it stopped you all from grabbing ice cream with Spicer that other time.”

The Brazilian rolled his eyes. “It’s just Spicer. It’s not like we can’t kick his butt into next week if he tries anything.” He shrugged. “Besides, he was paying.”

“You have a point,” the dragon admitted, before answering the actual questions. “And the scroll’s for me to check out just how good you’ll be with the magic. If you wanna keep working with it, that is. As for the help, well, I’ll tell you when we get up to the mountains; it’s a bit of a long story and not one that the old guys would like me spreading around.”

The Wind Dragon nodded thoughtfully as they entered the library, heading all the way into the back of the room where a thick layer of dust coated everything. Careful not to stir up the dust too much, the duo slowly scanned the bookshelves for the construction plans, gardening, or the chest, while keeping an ear out for anyone looking to see what they were up to. The monk had an uncomfortable flashback to the time he’d stolen the Serpent’s Tail from the vault, but he quickly refocused on his task. This was way different from that time, not the least because it was Dojo who wanted him to get the scroll and he was pretty sure the Moby Morpher was in the vault.

They finally found the small reddish box and Rai eased the top open, revealing a handful of well-preserved scrolls wrapped with colored ribbons. “We want the green one,” Dojo whispered, glancing back towards the door, and the brunet shot the dragon a flat look. Plucking said scroll off the top of pile and stowing it in his robes, he carefully closed the box and put it back where he’d found it, slowly making his way back out of the room a moment later.

That done, he casually went over to the vault to pick up the Golden Tiger Claws and brought the two of them to a clearing in the mountains, dropping down to sit cross-legged on the grass as he pulled the scroll out. Dojo slid his way off the monk and made a grab for the scroll, only for Rai to move it out of his reach with an expectant look on his face.

“You said something about a story?” he pointed out when the dragon opened his mouth with a scowl on his face. Dojo closed his mouth, a sheepish expression crossing his face.

“Oh, right.” Settling down, he thought back fifteen hundred years, when he was still learning about humans and Dashi was still around. “So, I’m assuming you know what they say about Dashi and Wuya and how she was a terrible Heylin witch and he created the Shen Gong Wu to fight her and he finally trapped her in the puzzle box until Jack released her a couple of years ago.” Rai nodded, resting his chin on his hand while he listened to the guardian talk. “What they don’t really talk about is _how_ Dashi made the Shen Gong Wu or much about Wuya’s magic, except to say that the Wu are good and the magic’s bad.

“You ever hear the saying ‘history is written by the victors’?” He didn’t wait for an answer before continuing. “Once Dashi defeated Wuya, the temple monks got together and decided to get rid of as much on magic as possible, saying it was the reason they’d lost Chase to the Heylin and how Wuya was able to rise to power in the first place. Since most of the world was just recovering from Wuya’s rule, there were very few people, if any, who disagreed and most of the scrolls were gladly destroyed as the monks passed through. Almost all of the remaining magicians went into hiding, hoarding what scrolls they _did_ have and writing down whatever they could remember from the scrolls they _knew_ had been destroyed.”

“Wait, so how is there a chest full of magic scrolls in the middle of the temple when they’d tried to destroy all of them?” Rai furrowed his brow as he tried to figure out how _that_ could have happened.

Dojo grinned humorlessly at him. “Well, that was one of Dashi’s chests, wasn’t it? Part of his contribution to the temple, even if no one knew what was in it. They were all still too much in awe of him to go through his things and I don’t think any of the other monks ever knew he had them, in the first place. Grand Master Dragon, fought Wuya himself, and all that. Why would he need something like _magic_ anyway?”

Dojo huffed in wry amusement. “It’s still kinda funny when I think about it. How did they think he _made_ the Shen Gong Wu in the first place? Just wave his hand and have them appear?” The dragon shook his head. “There was a _very_ good reason they never quite worked against Wuya, even though that’s what he originally made them for. How could they, when she was one of the most powerful and skilled magicians in the world and he’d only been able to convince this one old hermit to help him with his idea to take her down? Oh, I’m not saying they were _completely_ useless,” he said upon catching sight of the brunet’s skeptical expression. “Toe to toe, in the hands of a Grand Master Dragon, they could just about level the playing field, but when you helped her regain her body? With only three Dragons-in-Training to oppose her?” He pointed at the monk to emphasize his next sentence. “There’s a reason I ran when the others started to panic and it’s _not_ just ‘cause I’m a bit of a coward.”

“If that’s the case,” Rai said slowly, thinking back to his original question and everything he’d learned so far. “Why help me learn at all? Why not just try to stop me from using it?”

“Do you _really_ think I don’t know you kids by now?” Dojo gave him an unimpressed look. “Would you have listened? No sneaking around trying to practice, no weak excuses, no experimenting in the dead of night out in the mountains?” At the monk’s sheepish expression, the dragon nodded. “And then Kimiko and Clay would have gotten even more suspicious. Hopefully, they’d bring it to Master Fung, Omi, you, or me, but there’d always be the possibility that they’d be talking and one of the older monks would overhear and you can guess what’ll happen then.” The Wind Dragon nodded, looking a little pale at the hypothetical situation.

“Besides,” added Dojo, “magic isn’t inherently bad; it’s just one of those things that exists and can be used for good or bad, like the Shen Gong Wu. It’s just bad luck that most people think of Wuya when they think of magic.” He eyed the scroll that Rai had been holding onto the entire time. “ _Now_ can I have the scroll? I’d _really_ like to know just how high you can go ‘cause some of the master-level stuff is awesome. Well, when it’s not Wuya who’s doing it.”

“Oh, right.” The Brazilian handed over the scroll and Dojo had it untied and rolled open within seconds. The dragon quickly skimmed the passages, shifting the open section as he decided to pass over the introductory and history passages; from what he could tell, it was basically everything that he’d just been telling Rai, but with more detail, in chronological order, and a whole lot drier.

“Aha.” He didn’t even realize he’d made a noise when he came across the section detailing talented students and prodigies, slowing down enough to actually read what was written on the page. There was a definition, a description of what they could do, some of the spells created by some famous ones, an abbreviated list of names, and the thing he was looking for: ways to test a student’s current ability and a chart detailing just how skilled they could become. He gave the spell list a quick once-over, mentally crossing out the things that required another magician and checking off the things he knew Raimundo could already do. That still left them with quite a bit to get through.

He sighed and glanced at the monk, who was in the process of creating another ball of fire to join the four already floating a little above his head with the hand not occupied with the Tiger Claws. Dojo mentally checked off another ability on the list as he prepared to dive for cover. “Raimundo?”

The brunet slowly released the fireball, waiting for it to reach the same level as the others and hang there, before he glanced at Dojo. “Didja find it?”

“Yup, but it looks like we’re gonna be here a while,” he replied with a look at the remaining spells. Rai stretched, allowing the five balls of fire to drift away and then fizzle out, before getting to his feet with an excited expression and a cocky grin.

“Then, let’s get started.”

 

* * *

 

Wuya concentrated on the distant feeling of magical intent that periodically spiked in the direction of the Xiaolin Temple, determined to figure out whether it was Raimundo who was the source of them. Chase had left several hours ago, but he’d told his cats to continue watching her and he’d told her not to leave his lair. And with no access to either her magic or any Shen Gong Wu, the witch had settled on unraveling the mysterious source of magic to pass the time.

Although, considering the number of times the magical intent had spiked within the last couple of hours, she felt she should have figure it out by now.

She sighed and glared into the pond beside her. Honestly, it probably _was_ Raimundo giving off those spikes in magic, but it was surprising how quickly he seemed to gain control over it. When she’d first begun teaching him, he had absolutely _horrible_ control and she had been fervently glad that she’d set aside an entire _room_ to train him in. It had been _embarrassing_ to be the one who’d gifted him, this child who disregarded the basics and wanted to leap to one of the higher spells, not even five hours after he’d received his magic. She’d figured he’d _deserve_ the pain of the backlash if he wanted to be so impatient.

But that moment never came. Try after try, he would lose control and he would only ever scorch the stone walls. His hands never seemed to burn when the magic exploded, though she couldn’t tell if it was because he willed it so or because the summoning wasn’t out of his realm of ability. Both possibilities weren’t ones she really wanted to contemplate, as it would mean she’d lost a _very_ talented student. He would have fallen into one of the categories of talent that she’d wanted since she’d heard that master magicians were expected to take on at least one apprentice, all those years ago when her own master had finally acknowledged her ascent to the level.

As she picked apart another magical spike, she focused in on the minute thread underlying the familiar feel of her magic, trying to identify its owner, because _that_ was the piece controlling the spell and the only part that _wasn’t_ immediately recognizable.

And then she wanted to slap herself when she remembered that even if it _was_ Raimundo wielding a remnant of her power, he wouldn’t have much of a signature until he’d used it for at least another week or so. _That_ was when the magic began clearly personalizing itself to its new wielder and prior to that time, it would feel almost exactly like the master’s. Another month after that and there would only be traces of her signature as a way of telling other magicians who his first master had been; the rest of it would be uniquely his.

She _definitely_ had to go visit the boy, if only to figure out _how_ he was able to train himself and make sure he hadn’t harmed himself in the meantime. And maybe she could _officially_ instate herself as his proper master. Well, _if_ she could get the right claims recognized, at least.

 

* * *

 

“Well, this was a waste of time.” A young man with messy brown hair and amber eyes kicked the ground as he walked through the streets of what had once been known as Pandatown, a scowl on his face. “Would’ve been nice to know Pandabubba’d been arrested _before_ I was sent to draw up a deal,” he muttered to himself, sullenly shoving his hands into his pockets. “Although, _why_ we need to make a deal with the guy, I seriously don’t get. I mean, sure, he was great and all, but that was three years ago. Then, he goes and gets caught twice two years ago and goes quiet.”

He shook his head at how fast the crime boss had fallen, going from infamous to joke within a year and there were whispers beginning to go around that Pandabubba’s reputation was just a front to cover up how soft he really was. While the brunet didn’t really buy into the latter, he was beginning to think the man wasn’t quite the terror he’d been portrayed as.

“I hear you’re looking to make a deal with Pandabubba.”

The young man immediately spun, pulling his hands free of his pockets as his gaze landed on an armored man with long hair and amber eyes with slit pupils. He narrowed his eyes at the other man; he may have been deep in thought, but he should’ve been aware enough to hear this man sneak up on him.

“Relax,” the newcomer said, raising his hands to show them empty of weapons. The young man didn’t relax a bit, knowing well enough that just because someone wanted to show that they had no weapons at the moment, didn’t mean they didn’t actually have some stashed somewhere on their person. “I come only to talk.”

“Yeah?” The younger man raised a skeptical eyebrow. “What about?”

“I heard that you were looking to make a deal with Pandabubba,” the stranger said calmly, dropping his hands back to his sides. “I know where he is.”

“So do I,” the brunet replied, crossing his own arms. “In prison where they put all the major crime bosses.”

This brought a strange smile to the armored man’s face. “Perhaps. Perhaps not.”

The young man gave the stranger a flat look. He was beginning to recognize this game of words and he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to go along with it. “You got anything better to say, dude? ‘Cause, if you don’t, I’m gonna go find a way home now.”

“I can help you get in touch with Pandabubba,” the stranger finally offered.

The young man hesitated as two paths opened themselves up to him. The first: he refused, made his way home in shame, and possibly have another member successfully hammer out a deal with the crime boss. He’d probably get dropped back down to following orders and his cut of any pay they made would go back to what it’d been before. He’d have trouble keeping up with his side of the rent, let alone the extra he usually sent back to his parents to help with everything. The second: pretty much everything in the first reversed.

“What’s the catch?” He eyed the stranger suspiciously, as he lamented the choices laid before him. He was certain Maria and João didn’t have this problem ever, but he didn’t know about Raimundo; he hadn’t really heard from his brother since the kid had gotten himself dragged into the circus and it wasn’t like his infrequent letters would cover that sort of thing when the kid _knew_ they would read it aloud to the younger ones.

“I would like you to retrieve two yo-yos, a mirror, a helmet with a diamond on it, and a telescope whose form mimics an eagle,” the stranger said and he could feel his eyebrows rising at the random list of items. “All of these can be found at the Xiaolin Temple.” The stranger turned to walk away, but paused. “If what I’ve heard about you is true, then I will expect you and the items at my lair in the Land of Nowhere in two weeks, Ghost.” This time, he didn’t stop as he was swallowed by the darkness.

The young man was left to scowl after the stranger and his ridiculous request. He really, _really_ hoped that this deal with Pandabubba was worth it.

 

* * *

 

She fumed for a few days after finding out, taking her frustration and anger and confusion out on the training dummies until one of the older monks redirected her to the courtyards. She grumbled and glared, but shifted to the new location, knowing full well that if she destroyed all the dummies, it would be her chore to make them all again and she wasn’t in the mood to have the patience for the repetitive task. As she fought shadow enemies, and occasionally Clay, she tried not to think of what Rai had revealed, but the memory crept back in whenever she paused for breath or water. Even her dreams were tainted by it, the light of the flickering green flames across his face pulling her back to the time the Wind Dragon had betrayed them all to Wuya for games and a room in the stone palace.

During that time, she stubbornly avoided Rai, a task that was suspiciously easy considering the fact that they lived in the same temple, but she didn’t think too much on it; she was only grateful that she had some space to figure out what she was going to do about this.

Immediately, she crossed off telling any of the older monks; she may have been struggling with what this meant for them as a group and as friends, but she was pretty sure she didn’t want Rai kicked out of the temple. How else was she going to get some good conversation that didn’t involve a ton of explanations or a bunch of deciphering around here? Besides, he wasn’t hurting anyone with it, though she doubted she would ever be comfortable seeing him wielding those flames, not the least because fire was _her_ element.

Maybe she could tell Master Fung? He was their sensei, so things like this were probably something he was supposed to deal with. But what if he told Rai to stop? Kimiko knew the Brazilian well enough by now to have recognized the expression on his face when he’d shown them the flames and she knew that he wouldn’t stop using them, regardless of what Master Fung said. He’d never been the best at taking orders, especially ones he didn’t agree with, and that would only prompt him to sneak around to use them. Which would make him look all the more suspicious, until someone _else_ decided to follow him and then he’d be toast.

She _could_ always just leave him be. Like she’d thought earlier, he wasn’t exactly hurting anyone with it and who knew what he’d be able to do once he got the hang of it. An image of Wuya’s palace popped into her mind and a shiver went through her. Of course, there was always _that_. And what if he hurt himself or someone else with it by accident? From everything she’d learned since coming to the temple, it would be a struggle to learn to control it with lots of pain and frustration and loss of control. How was he going to hide _that_?

Rolling onto her belly and grabbing her pillow, the Japanese girl screamed into it in frustration. Her thoughts were being unhelpful and just chasing each other and themselves around in circles, making her stress and worry when she _didn’t want to_. Her irritated blue eyes absently scanned her room and landed on a picture of the four of them laughing as they lounged out in the courtyard. It was one of her favorites and it usually brought a smile to her face at the memory of that day, but this time she smiled for a different reason.

She couldn’t talk to _Rai_ , seeing as he was the _problem_ , and she couldn’t talk to _Clay_ , who was probably working through the revelation just as she was, but she _could_ talk to _Omi_. Omi, who seemed like he’d already known what Rai had shown them and who hadn’t fussed about it. She’d expected him to be the most vocal about Rai’s new powers, but the little guy’d just been fascinated. _Somehow_ , he’d already figured this out and she wanted to know _how_.

Without a second thought, Kimiko leapt to her feet and dashed out to find the youngest of their group, heading first to the training area. The Water Dragon’d always spent a lot of time there and it was never a bad idea to check there first, when looking for him. True to form, the little bald monk could be seen practicing his moves against imaginary opponents, ducking, kicking, leaping, and punching at a speed that she knew from experience could put down most of Jack’s army within ten minutes. She also knew the moment he spotted her because he landed and paused, smiling at her with a happy, “Kimiko!”

She couldn’t help the grin that tugged at her lips at his honest expression upon seeing her; he was always so straightforward that what you saw or heard was pretty much what you got with the guy. It was refreshing once she’d gotten used to it, no hidden agendas, no manipulation, just sincerity and honesty. Oh, and unintentional offense, but he was learning and cute enough for her to let it pass the first few times.

“Hey, Omi,” she said. “How’s the practicing going?”

“It is going _very_ well.” He struck a pose and punched and kicked the air a few times. “My speed is increasing slowly and I am almost a half a second faster than I was on Monday.”

“That’s great.” She didn’t know whether half a second was much of an improvement, but Omi sounded proud of it, so it must be pretty good. It made her feel a little bad when she had to shift over to why she’d really come to find him. “Listen, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, my friend.” Omi straightened and turned to face her, looking like he _just_ stopped himself from continuing the way he normally would.

“Uh, it’s about Rai’s thing, so maybe we should go somewhere else?” Her voice was quiet and uncertain, blue eyes glancing around to make sure they wouldn’t be overheard.

Omi blinked, before nodding furiously. “Indeed. We should go elsewhere to ensure we are not overheard. And I know the _perfect_ place.” He motioned for her to follow and they headed for the Shen Gong Wu vault, passing Dojo on their way there. The Dragon of Water quickly grabbed the Golden Tiger Claws and brought them to the cave where they’d hidden when Mala Mala Jong had been set on the temple. “Ta-da!” The younger monk spread his arms wide with a proud smile. “No one will listen to us here!”

Kimiko gave him a weak smile. “Yeah, they won’t.” She wasn’t as happy about it, but he was right; no one would try to eavesdrop on them, all the way out here.

“Now, what was it you wanted to ask, Kimiko?” He turned around and sat down, putting his hands into the opposite sleeve and looking at her expectantly.

The Dragon of Fire sighed and took a seat, pulling her knees up to her chest and leaning back against the wall. “What are you planning on doing about”—she waved her hand in a vague circle—“all that?”

Omi tilted his head to the side in confusion. “‘All that?’ Do you mean Raimundo’s Heylin magic?”

“Yeah. That.” Her voice was flat.

The younger monk shrugged and gave her an uncomfortable smile. “I am not planning on doing anything about it.”

Kimiko raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Really? You’re not planning on telling Master Fung or telling Rai not to use it or telling Dojo about it?”

Omi shook his head. “I do not think Raimundo will listen to me, if I tell him not to use it. And I do not believe Dojo will be able to keep quiet about something like this.” He hesitated for a moment and his voice was very quiet when he next spoke. “I also do not think I will be telling Master Fung about this. There is very little he can do and Raimundo does not seem like he will _stop_ using it.” His voice then took on a forced cheerfulness. “Besides, it is not hurting anyone and it is _very_ pretty to look at when it is not Wuya using it.”

She pretty much exploded at that, leaping to her feet and pacing while she gestured to emphasize her questions. “How can you just _say_ it like that? Rai, _our_ Rai, our _Xiaolin Dragon of Wind_ , has Heylin magic powers! _Heylin_ _magic powers_! From _Wuya_! _How_ can you just, just _accept_ it like he hasn’t done anything _wrong_? What if he’s gone back over? What if it _hurts_ him? What if it’s some sort of binding contract thing and he’ll _have_ to go _back to her_?” She gave a deep sigh and leaned against the wall, wrapping her arms around her middle. Her voice was much quieter when she spoke again. “What if he had to give up something in exchange and he doesn’t know what it is?”

The younger monk had scuttled back to press himself against the wall as Kimiko ranted and paced, almost certain that the older monk hadn’t been paying any attention to what was going on around her. He stared wide-eyed at her for a few moments after she finished, partly terrified at the reaction and partly floundering at his own inexperience. Hesitantly, he got up and reached out to pat her on the arm, trying to be comforting when he was still a little scared of her reaction.

“As I understand it, he has _not_ done anything particularly wrong. There is nothing that says he _cannot_ have Heylin magic, while also being a Xiaolin Dragon. Admittedly, it is…not something I would have originally believed possible or honorable before you came to the temple, but I have learned much since then.” His expression was solemn. “I also do not believe he has betrayed us again or that Wuya will be able to take him away from us; my tiger instincts tell me that he was telling the truth when he said Wuya gave the magic to him with no threads connected to it—”

“No strings attached,” Kimiko corrected.

“Precisely. And it did not seem to harm him the two times I saw him using it.” Omi shrugged and fell silent for a moment, hesitating. The Japanese girl didn’t say anything as the younger monk gathered his thoughts and his courage. “Though, if you are upset with him for learning from the Heylin, then you should be upset with me, as well.”

Furrowing her brow, the Dragon of Fire turned to look at the bald monk, who had dropped his hand and taken several steps back. His black eyes were focused on the ground and he seemed to be trying to shrink in on himself. “Omi, what…?”

“I learned ‘Repulse the Monkey’ from Chase Young.”

Kimiko could only stare at the younger monk, as she processed the statement, making Omi cringe as the silence began to stretch.

Her voice wavered when she finally spoke. “You mean, when we…?”

He nodded slowly and Kimiko slid down to sit on the cave floor, gaze searching as she thought back to the time Clay had been possessed by Sibini. It wasn’t a time she really liked to think about, to be honest, but she remembered Omi’s evasive answer when they’d asked him where he’d learnt the new move. That in itself was a pretty big hint and Chase’s interest in Omi had pretty much guaranteed it, but for Omi to confirm it was still a bit of a shock.

And the little guy really _had_ learned a lot since they’d met for him to be able to use the information like that, she mused wryly, though from them or from Chase, she wasn’t entirely sure. Not that it really mattered, but it would’ve been nice to know.

She sighed audibly and ignored the slight flinch Omi made at the noise. “Alright, I see what you’re saying,” she said, resignedly amused. “It’s probably gonna take me a bit, but I think I’ll be okay with it. As long as it’s not hurting him and he doesn’t leave us again.”

“That is all I can ask,” Omi replied, before shooting her a confused look. “Although, what was I saying?”

She smiled and went over to pat him on the head. “That it doesn’t change who he is. That just because he _uses_ something we think is evil or _learns_ from someone we think is evil doesn’t mean he _is_ evil.” She picked up the Golden Tiger Claws to bring them back to the temple. “ _That’s_ what you were saying.”

“Oh,” he said, blinking. Then, a wide smile crossed his face. “I am very profound to have said those things without saying them.”

Kimiko laughed and shook her head at the younger monk, before motioning him through the portal and leaping in after him. She hoped he never changed.

 

* * *

 

While Kimiko was busy burning the dummies into charcoal and cinders, Clay had decided that some meditative tai chi in the temple’s gardens would help him a lot more than smashing things to splinters. As he slowly moved and breathed, he considered telling someone about what Rai had just shown them, but he quickly dismissed the thought; not only did he not want to get his friend kicked out, telling somebody sounded a little too much like snitchin’ and he wasn’t particularly interested in being the one who squealed. He also didn’t think just _tellin’_ Rai to stop would make him stop and he wasn’t much in the business of tellin’ anyone what to do, not since Jesse’d yelled at him that one time over it. It wasn’t like Rai would listen to him anyway, when he didn’t always listen to Master Fung.

So, that left waiting and watching, something that the Dragon of Earth was pretty good at, if he did say so himself. Better than the others, at least, in a general sense. Rai and Kim were always jumpin’ in faster than a starved dog at an all-you-can-eat buffet and Omi wasn’t much better, but give any of them something to focus on and they could focus like a cat on a speck o’ light.

Case in point, Dojo and Rai just waltzed right past him, heading for the vault and somehow missing him right in the middle of the garden. Clay quietly shook his head as he began to follow them. He was kinda surprised that Rai could walk so confidently through the temple when you considered what exactly the guy was hiding, but the Wind Dragon had always been very good at blustering. And with Dojo on his shoulder, he wouldn’t look like he was doin’ anything wrong. Not that he _was_ , but, well, a guy’s thoughts can run away from him, alright?

The Texan _was_ curious to see what the other monk and the dragon were up to, though, so he hung around while they went down to the vault and, a moment later, he heard Rai’s voice say, “Golden Tiger Claws.” The familiar tearing sound was faint, but he could feel the winds from the portal, even from where he stood at the top of the vault. A moment later, the winds died and he went down to give the place a quick once-over. Only the Tiger Claws were missing, so he shrugged and headed back to the gardens, beginning his exercises again with something else to think about.

He kept an eye out for either of the two over the next few days, in between sparring with Kimiko (and, whoo _wee_ , was _that_ girl still steaming over Rai’s magic) or Omi and practicing his element, and he noticed that they disappeared every few days. He figured they were takin’ the Claws and heading out to practice with Rai’s magic, seein’ as he could _feel_ the spikes out in the mountains the same days they were gone. It didn’t look like the older monks could, though, ‘cause they didn’t kick up any sort of fuss about it, but it still made Clay worry.

He may have gotten mad when the brunet’d first showed it to them, but it was really just ‘cause he’d been terrified that it meant Rai’d be leaving them the same way Jesse had left him, all that time ago. It hadn’t helped that the Brazilian _had_ left them that one time and that the flames he now wielded were from the same person.

There was a little bit of indignation, too, a’cause wasn’t that just a little _unfair_ to the rest of them? How come Rai got t’ have _two_ elements ‘stead of just _one_ like the rest of us? And, if it didn’t count as an element, so what? He _still_ had an advantage over them, regardless of his inexperience with it.

It was something to bring up when he talked to Dojo, he thought as he spotted Kim heading for Omi. He knew she’d been real conflicted over the entire thing, but he recognized the expression on her face: she’d finally decided to get a second opinion on everything that’d been going on and that opinion looked to be Omi’s.

Which made sense, when he thought about it, ‘cause the little guy hadn’t been a bit surprised when Rai’d pulled those flames out of thin air. In fact, he’d been pretty fascinated, going so far as to reach out for them when he didn’t know what would happen. Clay frowned. It was a good thing Rai’d still been aware enough to put them out before he’d gotten to them, but that was something else he’d probably need to ask the dragon.

And what better time to ask than now, he thought as he spotted the temple guardian heading away from the vault and passing Omi and Kim with barely a glance. The green dragon was carrying an unfamiliar scroll and grumbling to himself, so it wasn’t too hard for Clay to pluck the scroll out of the dragon’s hands. Of course, Dojo screamed and cowered, covering his face with his hands and pleading, while the Texan calmly waited for the guardian to recover.

Dojo peeked out from his fingers and sighed in relief, before setting his hands on his hips and scowling at him. “What was _that_ for? I almost had a heart attack.”

Clay gave him an apologetic grin. “Sorry, Dojo. Just wanted to ask you a few questions, but you and Rai’ve been disappearing as much as a town o’ prairie dogs from a hawk’s shadow.”

Dojo started tapping his claws together nervously. “Yeah, we’ve been, uh, training! Lots and lots of training to do. Mhm, yup.”

“And it wouldn’t have anythin’ to do with this, hmm?” The Texan waved the scroll a little to draw the dragon’s attention.

“Hey, how’d you get that?” the dragon demanded, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at Clay. “I’m pretty sure I was holding that before you scared me half to death.”

He shrugged. “It would’ve fallen, if I hadn’t grabbed it. So, can I ask you a few questions?” He lowered his voice. “Y’know, about Rai’s, er, new abilities?” He looked expectantly at Dojo, who hissed at him to be quiet and glanced around nervously.

“Alright, alright. But not here,” the guardian said as he clambered up to wrap his tail around Clay’s arm. “There’s a nice little clearing just outside the temple where we can talk.” His eyes darted around again. “Don’t need to have the older monks catching wind of this.”

“You got it, pardner,” the blond said, heading for the temple’s entryway. They quickly slipped outside the compound and into the shade of the trees, Dojo accurately pointing out the way for once. A short fifteen-minute walk later, they found themselves in a cozy clearing, brightly lit under the afternoon sun, and Clay took a seat in the middle of the field.

Dojo crawled off his arm to sit in front of him and crossed his arms. “You better still have that scroll, mister, because it is one extremely old and very valuable piece of writing.”

“Don’t worry, Dojo. Here you go.” He handed the scroll back to the dragon and settled himself more comfortably. “So, how come you ain’t fussing about Rai’s magic?”

Dojo raised an eyebrow and replied dryly, “Fifteen-hundred-year-old dragon. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. Yes, even the Xiaolin Dragon with Heylin magic part.”

Clay blinked, feeling a little disconcerted that Dojo had guessed what his next question would have been. He figured Rai or someone must have asked something similar. Although… “Dashi?”

Dojo gave him a wry smile. “How _else_ did you think he could make the Shen Gong Wu?”

The Texan hummed thoughtfully, before nodding at the scroll clutched in the dragon’s claws. “Why d’you need that then?”

“What, did you think I’d be able to remember all the things that have to do with magicians and their apprentices and their spells and how to teach them?” Dojo replied incredulously. “I don’t even have to remember what all the Shen Gong Wu _are_ and _I’m_ the one who helped Dashi hide them.” He threw up his hands in exasperation.

Clay chuckled at his reaction. “Fair ‘nough. So, why’s Rai using it now? He didn’t use it at all between Wuya takin’ over the world and a couple a’ days ago, so how come he’s suddenly lighting fires whenever?”

“I’m actually surprised he lasted that long,” Dojo admitted, dropping his hands back to a more comfortable position. “Heylin magic’s much more excitable than Xiaolin elements, so I was really expecting him to start playing around with it while you guys were Wudai Warriors.” He frowned. “Guess Wuya was a _much_ better teacher than I thought.”

Clay looked at the dragon curiously. “What’s Wuya got to do with that? I mean, aside from giving it to Rai and all.”

“Hoo, boy.” Dojo took a deep breath. “Alright, so Wuya’s the one who gave the magic to Raimundo. Thing is, she can’t have just handed it over, the way you could a pebble or something, because of the way Heylin magic works. See, Heylin magic’s kinda alive in a way, so when you give someone else a part of your magic, it bursts to life and…sorta challenges the person receiving it.” The dragon looked a little frustrated that he couldn’t quite explain it properly, but pushed on ahead. “It’s a painful and exhausting, but if you succeed, well, there you go. Magic.” He made a grand gesture to go with the last word.

“And if y’ don’t?”

Dojo winced. “You sorta…burn from the inside out.” He shuddered and ignored Clay’s exclamation. “ _Anyway_ , once you got it, you’ve gotta learn to control it. Y’know, like you guys did with your elements.” He waved a hand at the Texan now listening intently. “And that usually involves lots and lots of fire. But, from what he’s told me, Raimundo skipped all the way up to the advanced animating spells. Thing is, _usually_ that would get an apprentice magical backlash and burns on their hands from trying to do something too advanced for their level, but he’s got nothing.”

Blue eyes widened at that. “Nothin’? You mean no scars or _anything_?”

“Nada. Not. A. Thing. And trust me, I looked.” Dojo shook his head in amazement. “I gotta say, the kid’s got talent. I even checked it out against some of the things written in this scroll and he’s pretty much gonna shoot all the way to the top, if he wants to.” He then furrowed his brow. “Wait a minute, what was the question again? I feel like we’ve gotten a bit sidetracked…”

“Oh, right,” he said, a split second before Clay could speak. “Why’s he using it now.”

“I get that he’s lighting fires to learn control, but how come it took so long to show up again?” The Dragon of Earth clarified. “And how’s Wuya fit into all this?” He waved his hand to indicate everything that Dojo had just said.

“Okay, so you remember how it felt when your element first started showing up? Probably some sort of itchy need to kick the ground or stomp or something? And then how, if you didn’t do anything about it, it’d burst out of you and something would topple or you’d set off an earthquake or you’d accidentally make quicksand?” The dragon looked up at Clay, who nodded ruefully.

“That patch of land was never the same after that,” the cowboy mused, before looking back at Dojo. “You sayin’ that’s why he’s usin’ it now?”

Dojo nodded. “Exactly. Wuya may have helped him learn how to control it when she first gave it to him, but it wasn’t exactly meant to be hidden for so long. Now that he’s gotten to Shoku Warrior and things’ve been quiet, it started wanting to be used again.”

“Oh, and to answer the other question: since Wuya’s the one who gave him the magic, she was pretty much his master, the same way Master Fung is to you all. So, she would’ve been the one to teach him how to control it and how to animate those golems, while making sure he didn’t burn himself. She also probably covered how to suppress it when he wasn’t planning on using it for a while and the basics on how to do everything else,” the temple guardian explained.

Clay nodded as he filed away what Dojo’d just told him. Interestin’ though it was, there were still a few things he wanted to know.

“Is there anythin’ we’re gonna have to watch out for? ‘Cause y’ mentioned magical backlash earlier? And d’ y’ think Wuya’d come back for him, if she ever finds out ‘bout this?”

“‘Watch out for’?” Dojo blinked before opening the scroll and skimming through it. “Hmm, doesn’t look like it. And there shouldn’t be too many consequences to it, either, now that it’s settling in properly.” He snapped the scroll closed and tied the ribbon around it again. “Once it’s done with that, he shouldn’t have too many problems using it, unless he’s gonna try something insane, like raising a castle or changing a rock into a puzzle box without learning _how_ he’s supposed to do those things.”

The dragon shook his head. “Pretty much the same thing for the backlash; as long as he doesn’t try to reach too far, he should be fine. But Wuya…” He hummed thoughtfully, brow furrowing as he considered the situation. “She might come by, but she shouldn’t be able to know that he’s been practicing. And even if she does, she can’t really do much without her own magic.”

“You sure ‘bout that, pardner?” Clay asked worriedly. “‘Cause I don’t think I’d be able to stand hearing that Rai went back to her due to some political maneuvering or legal clause or something.”

“I’m pretty sure,” Dojo replied. “But I’ll check in the scrolls. There’s one on master-apprentice contracts and relationship stuff in there somewhere.”

“Alright.” The Dragon of Earth nodded, before raising an eyebrow. “Does it count as cheatin’ when Rai’s pretty much got two elements while the rest of us’ve got one?”

The dragon was visibly thrown by the question. “Uh, I wouldn’t exactly consider it an _element_ , seeing as it’s, well, _magic_ , but I don’t think so? I mean, I don’t think he’d be able to use it in a fight just yet and the spells he _does_ know aren’t really meant for battle.”

“But he can still animate golems, can’t he? And Wuya was a pretty good shot with those fireballs o’ hers,” Clay pointed out.

“Well, we haven’t exactly tried the first one out,” Dojo hedged. “Not exactly a good idea in the middle of settling, y’know, but I think he’s gonna have to work a bit to get back to animating. I gotta admit, Wuya had a knack for it, but I dunno about Raimundo yet. And, to be honest, it takes a lot more concentration to use magic in a fight, when you compare it to the elements.” He shrugged. “Right now, he’s more used to using his wind, so I expect he’ll stick to that for now. The magic’s more of an…interesting hobby, at the moment.”

“I still think it’s a little unfair when you consider he’s got that _and_ he’s Shoku Warrior.” Clay crossed his arms. “The rest of us just got our elements, while Rai can animate earth and create fire, in addition to controlling wind.”

“Well, alright. When you put it like that, it sounds pretty bad, but you gotta consider how much of a target Raimundo is.” Dojo ticked off the villains on his fingers. “He helped Wuya conquer the world and then betrayed her; he challenged Chase Young for Omi’s freedom and won; and he went and tricked Hannibal Bean into betting the Treasure of the Blind Swordsman in a Showdown that he then threw. Not to mention busting you three out of Pandabubba’s clutches when Jack tricked you all into believing him.” Dojo set his hands on where his hips would be as he looked at Clay expectantly. “I dunno about you, but everything I’ve ever learned about villains says that all of them’ll be looking for revenge or some way to even the score.”

“Doesn’t mean having some new power’s gonna help him when they come knocking,” Clay replied, standing his ground.

“No,” Dojo admitted. “But it _does_ mean he’ll, hopefully, have an ace up his sleeve if he ever gets backed into a corner.”

Clay kept silent for a moment as he considered that, before he resignedly blew out his breath. “Y’ got a point there, little fella.” He gave Dojo a small smile. “And since y’ seem to have all the answers t’day, y’ got one for why Omi’d be fascinated enough t’ try t’ touch Rai’s flames?”

Dojo raised an eyebrow. “I’d like to see _you_ spend fifteen-hundred years alive and we can see how good _your_ memory is after that.” He shot Clay a mildly offended look, before shifting his attention back to the question. “But, Omi, huh? Well, I wasn’t exactly expecting that, but I can’t say I’m surprised.”

He took Clay’s questioning look as encouragement to elaborate. “When Omi got turned into a cat, he was pretty much dropped right in the deep end of a pool of Heylin magic. And, while Chase is a brilliant fighter, he’s never been that great at wielding what magic he’s been able to gain over the years. Sure, he can turn warriors into cats and block off Wuya’s access to her magic, but he’s…clumsy with it.”

Clay furrowed his brow in confusion. “What ‘zactly’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“It means Chase tends to leave traces of his magic over everything that he alters,” Dojo explained. “It makes it easy to figure out if he’s been around, lemme tell you that, but it also means his magic’s constantly trying to find its way back to the closest stable source. It’s one of the reasons I _really_ don’t like visiting his lair; all his sticky, unstable magic trying to worm its way into mine. Ugh! Just thinking about it makes me shudder.” He shuddered.

“So, you’re saying that Omi’s got some leftover Chase magic in him and _that’s_ why he tried to touch Rai’s flames? ‘Cause Rai’s got stable magic and Omi doesn’t?” Clay asked, trying to make sure he understood what the dragon was saying. He might’ve learned tons ‘bout magic and Shen Gong Wu and fightin’ and how to stop the end of the world, but he knew he was just scratchin’ at the surface like a cow looking for water in a desert drought.

“Pretty much,” Dojo confirmed, before a thought struck him. “Omi didn’t actually _touch_ it, did he?”

“Naw.” Clay shook his head. “Rai was aware enough to put it out before the little guy got close.”

“Whew.” The dragon relaxed again. “I guess Raimundo could feel it, then. If Chase’s magic had touched Raimundo’s, it would’ve stolen it from him and then Omi would’ve had to fight for control over both sources of magic. And he may be the Dragon of Water, but I’m pretty sure he’s not resilient or adaptable enough to survive even _one_ magic’s challenge yet.” He paused. “For that matter, I don’t think _Raimundo_ would’ve been ready for that sort of thing. I’ve heard that losing your magic’s pretty painful and with magic that’s just settling? Ouch.” He winced.

“Huh. If that’s the case, how come the Shen Gong Wu aren’t affected? Aren’t they stable magic also?” The cowboy couldn’t help being a little fascinated by all this new information. The entire time he’d been at the temple, all they’d done was train and look for the Shen Gong Wu with the occasional free day to hang around with the others. They didn’t really talk ‘bout any of the other things that sometimes came up in their fights and he wasn’t even entirely sure they were things he could ask about. ‘Least, not around the older monks. But here he was, talkin’ with Dojo ‘bout Wuya’s magic and Chase’s magic and how come he hadn’t done this before?

“Well, y’see, Dashi wasn’t…exactly the one to make them. Or even most of them,” Dojo admitted. “See, he went and found this one hermit who specialized in enchanting things and got her to teach him. Only, when he tried to do it himself, he sorta messed up big time, so she took over and created the rest. And, since anyone who had ears had already heard why he was having these things made, she’d decided to seal them from other magical sources, so they’d actually, y’know, _work_ against Wuya. That and the fact that the magician was a master is what makes them stable.” He thought back fondly. “Dashi may have been great at transforming things, but he was really _bad_ at enchanting. The Eye of Dashi was the only one that actually came out the way he wanted it to.”

“Which else did he make?” Clay asked, looking curious.

Dojo ticked them off on his claws as he listed them. “The Sapphire Dragon was his first attempt, followed by the Sweet Baby Among Us, the Heart of Jong, the Fountain of Hui, the Mosaic Scale— _that_ one was more of an accident, if I remember right—the Woozy Shooter, the Eye of Dashi, and the Wings of Tinabi.” He tapped at his lips in thought. “I’m pretty sure everything else was made by the hermit.”

The Dragon of Earth raised both his eyebrows in surprise. “So, how come no one knew Master Dashi wasn’t the one to make the Shen Gong Wu when he wasn’t all that great at enchanting?”

“Probably ‘cause very few people knew where they came from in the first place,” the actual dragon replied. “Once he defeated Wuya, most people just assumed he’d found them somewhere and they just happened to be useful. Almost no one knew he could use magic and it wasn’t exactly smart to be advertising it when Wuya was ruling over everyone through _her_ use of magic. And, _after_ she was defeated, the other monks basically destroyed as much of the scrolls as they could and pretty much tried to outlaw it.”

“So, is ‘at from Master Dashi’s hidden stash then?” The blond nodded at the scroll that Dojo had been holding this entire time.

“You betcha.” Dojo nodded. “And thank goodness we still have it. I don’t want to imagine the mayhem there’d be if we didn’t and Raimundo had to figure it all out on his own. And speaking of Raimundo…” The temple guardian checked the location of the sun and shifted into his larger form. “I better go make sure he doesn’t burn himself while practicing out in the mountains.”

He took off in a rush of wind, leaving Clay to hang onto his hat so that it didn’t fly away. Blue eyes watched him head into the mountains, before the monk started making his way back to the temple. He’d learned a _lot_ more than he’d originally been expecting and he knew he’d be thinking about it all for a while. He absently wondered what Kimiko and Omi had talked about as he spotted them leaving a Tiger-Claw portal; whatever it was, Kim looked a lot more settled than she’d been for the past few days and that could only be a good thing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm feeling down, so you guys get some more un-betaed Nanowrimo quality writing. Enjoy

“So, what’s on the schedule for today?” Rai asked through a yawn, as he and Dojo flew out to their regular training spot. “I mean, I know we’re still working on control and that means fire, but what’m I gonna be doing with it?”

It’d been several days since he’d shown the other Dragons that he still had Wuya’s magic, and he hadn’t missed the way Kimiko had spent much of it burning things and sparring. Nor was he oblivious to Clay’s watchful gaze following him everywhere whenever he was at the temple. And, with Omi doing his own training and occasionally sparring with the other two, the brunet had figured it’d be best if he kept out of the way for a while and gave the two some time to cool off before trying to talk to them. That way, he’d hopefully also have less of a chance of getting fire or a fist to the face.

Besides, according to Dojo, he needed to be using his magic a little every day to help it settle and work up his control, so he wasn’t exactly _avoiding_ them. They just didn’t happen to cross paths while he was at the temple. (Of course, he was also practicing his situational awareness with his wind, so he wouldn’t lose his touch, but that had _nothing_ to do with him missing them in the halls, even though he used to see each of them at least three or four times a _day_ a couple weeks ago.)

Speaking of magic and Dojo, though, once they’d gone through the list on the scroll—and _that_ was something else to think about ‘cause some of the things on there were pretty awesome. He sorta hoped he’d be able to pull some of it off one day—the dragon had explained what was going on with the magic and why he’d been itching to use it now that everything was calm. Turned out it was close enough to the Xiaolin elements that it wanted to be useful, and if it didn’t get to, it’d throw a fit. And seeing as these fits usually involved flames and/or explosions, apprentices usually started learning control by starting and putting out fires.

It certainly explained why he’d been making fireballs and flames all day. And why Wuya’d made sure he could start and stop a flame, even though he’d only wanted to learn to make stone goons. And why she seemed to have a thing for fire.

Anyway, once he’d gotten that out of the way, Dojo’d gone on to say that yeah, Rai _did_ have a knack for wielding magic. It didn’t mean it’d be easier to _use_ it, but he’d be able to pick up spells faster than the average apprentice would have, back when magicians were more common. Oh, and his magic was beginning to settle, so don’t do anything too difficult, unless he wanted to burn his arms to a crisp and blow things up.

Of course, that led to a bunch of questions on what settling was and what that meant for him and the magic and what the dragon meant when he said not easier to use but easier to pick up spells. Apparently, settling was what they called the process where the magic adjusted itself to fit the apprentice and it made difficult spells extra explosive for the first week or so. It basically meant the only things Dojo would _let_ him do was make fireballs and flames and stuff. Not that he was complaining ‘cause the one time he tried to make a rock goon, the embers in his soul had burned almost as bad as they had when he’d first gotten them, making him lose concentration almost immediately from the sudden pain. He hadn’t even been trying to make a _big_ goon, either, but it’d hurt so much that he couldn’t think clearly; it’d taken him a few minutes to recover enough to put out the flames from his loss of control and the gecko had been pretty smug for the rest of the training session.

Once it was done, though, the flames and things were supposed to be easier to make. Kinda like how it was easier to call upon the wind to help him out, once he’d made it to Apprentice, the dragon had said. And they’d test to see whether he could still make rock goons, too, though Dojo didn’t think he’d have any trouble; according to the guardian, if Rai was able to animate them before his magic had even settled properly, he shouldn’t have any problems creating them now that he and his magic were more in sync. They’d be able to get started on other spells, too, once they’d checked that out, new spells to try and figure out what exactly he had a particular knack for. Because every magician apparently had a field that they were especially good at: Wuya’s was manipulating energy and matter, Dashi’s had been transforming things, and this one hermit had been a brilliant enchanter. Dojo’d also heard of a pair of twins who had unreasonably solid protection spells, a teen with scarily realistic illusions, one creepy old guy who shouldn’t have been _that_ good with animating _anything_ , a fortune teller with a knack for accurate prediction, and a warlord wielding the best observation spells that the dragon’d ever seen.

This was all back in the day, _after_ Dashi had defeated Wuya, but _before_ all the old master magicians died without any successors. It’d been much easier to test the apprentices at the time, as they tended to have a knack for their gifter’s field, but a couple of odd ones popped up here and there. Usually, they’d just be better at a related or complementary field, but sometimes there were ones who were _really_ off and they usually ended up getting sent off to learn from a more appropriate master magician.

Not that that would happen to _Rai_ , of course, but it’d be nice to give Wuya _fewer_ reasons to come after him, right?

Anyway, what he meant by “easier to pick up, but not use” was that the Wind Dragon would be able to learn the spells quickly, but it wasn’t going to be any easier to master or control them, if he ended up losing his concentration. Like how he didn’t actually need any help to learn how to create fireballs, but they could still explode or fizzle out if the brunet wasn’t careful.

The duo had spent the rest of the day out in the mountains and returned to the temple around dinnertime with one exhausted Brazilian and a thoughtful temple guardian. They went out again the next day, Dojo making sure that Rai actually got up and practiced magic for a bit, before returning for regular temple chores, which had the Shoku Warrior complaining about promotions coming with extra work. The dragon was unsympathetic, pointing out that he’d been the one to get stuck with it, so he was either going to take responsibility for learning control or for the accidental burning down of the temple. The brunet grumbled some more, but he hadn’t really been protesting his training schedule anyway.

Dojo hummed in thought. “Well, it’s been about a week and your magic feels pretty calm to me. How about we start off with some fireballs and rings or something and, if you don’t have any problems with them, then we can try out some new things?”

“For real?” The brunet’s mood immediately lifted at the possibility that he’d _finally_ be able to make things other than fire again.

“Mhm. But, _only_ if you don’t feel anything while warming up.” The actual dragon made sure to stress, one eye glaring sternly back at the young man, who was looking much more alert now.

“You got it.” Rai shot him a thumbs-up as they circled for a landing, jumping off once they were low enough and landing in a crouch. He straightened as Dojo shrunk back down, momentarily giving a tree across the clearing a weird look, before turning back to the rest of the clearing and rubbing his hands together with a grin. Bringing his hands to either side of himself and lighting them both up, he exhaled with a quiet, “Let’s go,” and burst into motion.

Onetwothreefourfive _six_ balls of fire immediately shot up into the air as the brunet threw himself into a forward somersault, flinging the resulting ring of fire high and setting it spinning at the same time. He popped back to his feet and two whips of fire were reaching out to catch the fireballs as they dropped back to earth, tossing them back into the sky and towards the suspended ring of fire. With a flick of his wrist, the whips curled into rings and he threw them up so they hit the hovering ring at the same time the fireballs reached the center of formation, creating a spherical cage of horizontal bars. A beat passed, as Rai studied his work with a critical eye and he waited to see whether he would feel anything, but when nothing happened, he shrugged, idly shifted the flames from green-white to red-orange, and then let the flames dissipate.

Turning to the temple guardian, Rai indicated his previous display. “That good enough for a warm-up?”

Dojo had to take a moment to pick his jaw up and blink, but he nodded vigorously. “Wow. That was…flashy.” He blinked a few more times, before frowning as a thought hit him. “Why do all that for a simple warm-up?”

“Oh, let the boy have his fun, Dojo. Can’t you see he’s excited to finally be getting into some _real_ magic?”

“ _Wuya_ .” The Xiaolin Dragon scowled and placed himself between Dojo and where said Heylin witch was stepping out from behind a tree. “What’re _you_ doing here?”

She gave him a sly, toothy grin. “Checking up on my wayward apprentice, of course. Not that anything was ever made official, but I’m planning on fixing that soon.”

“Uh, nope. No can do. Can’t claim an apprentice once their magic’s settled or didn’t your master teach you that,” Dojo retorted confidently from where he’d wrapped himself around Rai’s right arm.

Wuya laughed. “You think there’s only _one_ way to claim an apprentice? I’m surprised, Dojo; with your experience, I would’ve thought you’d _know_ there wasn’t just _one_ way.” She studied him for a moment with a smirk on her lips, setting one hand on her hip. “But then, I suppose Dashi only ever _needed_ to know about that one way.”

“Dojo?” Rai was starting to get a sinking feeling the longer Wuya spoke. It sounded like the scrolls weren’t as thorough as they had thought when they’d checked it for master-apprentice contract things. Which made a lot of sense if Dashi’d been the one to write them up himself; just because he was a Grand Master Xiaolin Dragon didn’t mean he’d know everything about magic. “She’s bluffing, right? _Please_ tell me she’s bluffing.”

“Uh, well…” The bad thing about having Dojo on his arm? He could _feel_ the gecko shift uncomfortably as he stalled.

“Great. You don’t know.” He warily eyed the witch he’d once sided with. Even with the length of the clearing between them and _knowing_ that she wasn’t at full power, he couldn’t quite forget just how easily she’d crossed the distance that night two years ago when she chased the other Dragons off with barely a sweat.

Dojo sounded affronted when he opened his mouth again. “It’s not like I can memorize the entire scroll with a single reading, you know. And, besides, there’s plenty of important information that I need to make sure not to forget; I’ve got no room in my head for things that’ll only come up once every thousand or so years.” Rai felt him huff, shift a little, and turn away, and the brunet couldn’t help rolling his eyes. He would bet the dragon had probably forgotten to look it up in the first place.

“Right. So, how’s this gonna go down, Wuya? We gonna chat some more or should I skip right to the butt-kicking?”

The redheaded witch hummed, forming a ball of transparent swirling…something in her right hand and tossing it up and down. “How about neither?”

As her two Xiaolin opponents gaped at the sight of what appeared to be magic, Wuya hefted the transparent ball and tossed it straight at Rai. Immediately, Dojo dropped off his arm and the Brazilian threw himself to the side, rolling back to his feet in one smooth motion, only to yelp and duck as the ball flew _straight at him_.

He quickly looked back at the Heylin witch, assuming that she’d been the one to throw a second of those transparent balls, but she only stood where she’d been the entire time, one arm on her hip, amused. Confused, the Dragon of Wind glanced back at where the ball had gone and frantically tried to flatten himself to the ground as it came flying back, but it curved this time and hit him right in the face.

Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt, almost like getting hit in the face with a loose ball of air, but there was a falling sensation and then he was somewhere else.

 

* * *

 

The moment Raimundo slumped to the floor, the temple’s guardian shrieked and dashed over, shaking him and calling his name in a panic. Wuya let a satisfied smile cross her lips. It didn’t matter how long or how hard the dragon shook him, the young Shoku Warrior wasn’t going to wake up until the trial was done. The only thing left to do was wait to be called.

She winced as Dashi’s pet hit a particularly high note. Hopefully, before she tried to kill the pest or reinforcements arrived.

\---

Omi frowned and glanced toward the mountains, where Raimundo’s typical spikes of Heylin intent were absent. Though they’d never been particularly regular, the Dragon of Water was used to feeling them as he went through his morning exercises and the sudden lack was a little worrying.

If they hadn’t returned by the time he was finished with this set, he decided, returning his attention to the mostly-empty courtyard, he would wake up the rest of the Dragons and hurry over. After all, of all of the Dragons in the temple, Raimundo had the worst tendency of getting into trouble.

\---

Kaitlyn glanced out her window with a furrowed brow as something seemed to…shift out of line. She wasn’t entirely sure she’d felt…whatever it was before, but she didn’t think it was as drastic as another end-of-the-world scenario. If anything, it felt like something that had been settled in its spot was accidentally bumped out of the way and was precariously perched on the edge of a cliff. Or, like a Jenga tower that was a single block from tipping over.

With a visible frown and tensing nerves, the mostly-uninvolved teenager reached over to grab her phone. If anyone would know what was going on now, it’d be Jack.

 

* * *

 

Rai blinked and then blinked again. He rubbed his eyes and looked back at the scene in front of him, but the image remained the same. There was a fire-colored bird with long, trailing tail-feathers sorting through a giant pile of scrolls, while an ocean-colored dragon with long whiskers and antler-horns scribbled in another scroll on a desk next to it. Both towered over him and he was only glad that they didn’t seem to notice him over the bird chirping and twittering and squawking in response to whatever the dragon was huffing and growling and rumbling.

It took him a moment, but when he tore his eyes away from the two animals in front of him, he noticed that they were in a huge room with bookshelves lining all four walls, extending up higher than he could see, filled with even more scrolls. There were no candles or lights or anything, but the room was somehow well-lit and even cozy, when you ignored the gigantic animals in front of him.

Figuring he could entertain himself while he waited for whatever was going to happen to happen, he took a few steps towards the giant pile of scrolls and froze at the sudden silence that fell over the room. With a wince, he peeked up at the two creatures and straightened with a sheepish grin at the sight of two giant pairs of eyes on him.

“Uh, hi.” He waved. “I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing here, so if you could point me towards the way out, I’ll get outta your hair.” He grinned nervously up at them, as they exchanged glances.

**_-You are…the apprentice, correct? The magician apprentice?-_ ** A deep, rumbling voice resonated in his head and Rai frowned at the pressure, raising a hand to his head, even as he kept his gaze on the two gigantic animals.

The bird appeared to roll its eyes, twittering something at the dragon, before a lighter, airier voice made itself known. _–Don’t worry, child. This is the Trial of Masters, a sort of way to tell which master an apprentice would work better under when there are two masters attempting to claim a single apprentice. There’s no need to fret.-_

“Okay.” He dragged the word out, eyeing both creatures warily. “Can you _not_ have a master? Is that possible?”

_-We wouldn’t recommend it, but it’s possible.-_ The bird shuffled its wings and sat back, while the dragon turned back to its scroll. _–You also increase the possibility of blowing yourself up by a lot and injuries become a lot more common. In addition, those without masters tend to be less capable of large displays of magic, though much more creative and unconventional in their abilities, than those with masters.-_

**_-Though, I would say you don’t have to worry about that.-_** The dragon commented with a side-glance at Rai. **_–Considering this Trial is occurring and all, you’ve got at least two master-level magicians vying for the position of_** **your** ** _master, so it’s really all hypothetical speculation. I mean, I’m assuming you wish to continue learning magic, yes?-_**

“Of course.” His answer was matter-of-fact. “I mean, no offense to my Xiaolin element or anything, but this Heylin magic’s some pretty cool stuff.”

The brunet watched the two exchange glances, accompanied by a brief burst of twittering and growling, before the atmosphere in the room shifted towards seriousness and the dragon pulled out another scroll.

_-Alright then. We’ll get started with the easy stuff, which I’m sure you’ll recognize.-_ He got the impression the bird grinned at him. _–Full name?-_

“Uh, Raimundo Pedrosa.”

The dragon eyed him over the bird’s back. **_–I’m going to assume the ‘uh’ is not actually part of your name, as I’ve never met a human from your region of the world with a name that starts with ‘uh.’-_ **

Rai blushed and rubbed the back of his head. “Uh, yeah. That’s right.”

_-Try not to add that sound in front of your answers from now on, child. It will make this tedious process much quicker.-_ The bird told him, not unkindly. _–Current age?-_

The Dragon of Wind nodded. “17.”

_-Current occupation?-_

“Does being the Xiaolin Dragon of the Wind count? Or would that be the Shoku Warrior of the current Xiaolin Dragons?” he asked, before another thought hit him. “Can I put down ‘hero’?”

The two animals had a quick conversation and then the dragon said **_–Xiaolin Dragon of the Wind, current rank: Shoku Warrior-_ ** as he scribbled on the scroll.

_-Place of origin?-_

“Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.”

It continued through like that for a while, with Rai answering whatever question got thrown at him. For the most part, they were the usual sort of things officials needed to know—birthplace, siblings’ names, parents’ names, current address, phone number, etc.—but there were also some interesting ones, like when he first became aware of magic/Shen Gong Wu, when he got his magic, how often he’d used it, and things like that. It was only once they actually got to the whole determining-which-master-is-better-for-you that things got a little hairy.

_-Who was the one to Gift you your magic?-_

“Wuya.” If either creature noticed the wary tone in his voice, neither gave any acknowledgement of it.

_-Who, would you say, gave you better training?-_

“Dojo.”

_-Who do you feel would be a better instructor?-_

“I dunno. Dojo hadn’t gotten around to teaching me anything before this Trial.”

_-Who would you feel more inclined to listen to?-_

He hesitated for a moment. “…Dojo.”

The dragon paused in its scribbling to eye him carefully. **_–Please try to be honest. This_ ** **is** **_actually important to your development as a capable and dangerous magician and we’d prefer it, if you didn’t make things more difficult for yourself. Oh, and, despite your admirable natural abilities, we_ ** **can** **_tell when you lie.-_ **

Crossing his arms, Rai scowled hard at the both of them, but the bird remained unfazed. If what he was assuming was correct, though, he wasn’t surprised. “Fine. Wuya,” he admitted reluctantly, looking away and focusing on the nearest bookshelf. Not that he could read any of the titles, but it would be better than looking straight at the two as he gave ground to that Heylin witch.

He heard the bird shift slightly before continuing. _–What have you learned to do so far?-_

“Pretty much just the basics?” He shrugged. “Fireballs, rings of fire, candle flames, whips of fire. I’ve got them to hover, change shape, obey gravity, merge, separate, change color.” He shrugged again. “Things like that.”

Rai snapped, just as they were about to move on to the next question. “Oh, and the stone guys. I can make those. I think.”

The dragon peered at him. **_–You mean, animation? Like Wuya?-_ **

He nodded. “Yeah, those stone guys.”

_-I wouldn’t be incorrect in assuming that Wuya was the one who taught you then?-_

His expression twisted into a confused sort of frown. “Uh, yeah, she taught me.”

_-When did she teach you this?-_

“Right after I first got the magic, I think?” He scrunched up his face in thought. “It was almost right after everything stopped hurting, so it’d be the first thing I learned. Well, once she was satisfied that I could put out a fire, at least.”

The two creatures exchanged glances again. _–Have you tested for any particular affinities yet?-_

He shook his head. “Me and Dojo were just about to when this whole thing started.”

_-Are there any other spells of that caliber that you can do?-_

“I haven’t tried.”

And the questions continued, although they were more focused on his own abilities than on whether Dojo or Wuya would be a better teacher. It was a bit…weird, considering this was called the Trial of _Masters_ , but what did he know about assigning a master to an apprentice or vice versa?

Something else he’d noticed now that the whole questionnaire/interrogation seemed to be about done: he didn’t seem to need to eat, drink, use the bathroom, or sleep, though he definitely got tired. It felt like he’d been there for _hours_ , but the only thing he wanted to ask for was a chair. And, despite all the talking he’d been doing, his throat didn’t feel dry and his voice never cracked; it was more than a little weird, honestly, but it was probably due to whatever Wuya’d hit him with that dragged him here in the first place. Hopefully, the other Dragons would come looking for them soon; he was pretty sure they’d been gone longer than usual by this time and it’s not like they didn’t know where they were.

_-The Trial actually takes place in a pocket dimension parallel to yours. Not that it needs to, but someone, somewhen decided that it would be better if time didn’t move too much during the Trial, as it would end up being a bit too…troublesome to deal with.-_ The bird said, shuffling its wings and breaking off its conversation with the dragon. _–Or something like that. I don’t really remember, since it doesn’t really affect us much.-_ It shrugged. _–We get our job done regardless.-_

“Speaking of the Trial, what happens now?” Rai finally decided the two creatures probably didn’t care what he did, so he dropped down to sit cross-legged on the floor. It was not as hard as he thought it’d be, which he attributed to the fact it was most likely magical.

**_-Now?-_ ** The dragon answered, a bit distractedly. **_–Now, we figure out whether to assign you to Wuya or Dojo for the rest of your apprenticeship. Not that we expect that to be very long, considering your ridiculous affinity for this sort of magic, but we’d really rather you make it to master level than blow yourself up trying something far out of your abilities at this point in time.-_ **

The Dragon of Wind made a face and leaned into his fist. “And how long will that take?”

_-Hopefully, not very long, but your situation’s a bit complicated, you understand?-_ The bird began sorting scrolls again. _–Considering your own personal feelings on Wuya and the astounding mess that would probably occur if the generation’s Xiaolin Shoku Warrior was apprenticed to a Heylin Witch…-_ It shook its head. _–Add in the fact that Dojo_ technically _can’t teach you and we really should only have one choice.-_

That sinking feeling was back, but Rai didn’t do much more than tense and straighten up. With the way the old hag had been speaking, he’d sorta been expecting something like this, but it still felt like a noose around his neck. “I’m getting apprenticed to Wuya, aren’t I?”

**_-It’s like they said, we only really_ ** **have** **_one legitimate choice, child.-_ ** The dragon replied absently. **_–And seeing as it_ ** **is** **_our duty to ensure that apprentices are taught by masters…-_ ** It shrugged. **_–There’s not much we can do for you. At least, if the situation wasn’t what it is.-_ **

“You _are_ aware of what’s probably gonna happen to me, if this goes through, right?” he asked, a little desperately, not quite registering that last bit. Was all his hard work, every little thing he’d done since returning to the Xiaolin side; was that all for nothing? His one major mistake, a mistake he’d made when he was a lot younger, a lot more reckless, a lot more frustrated with the world; was it gonna dog his footsteps for the rest of his life? “The old geezers at the temple already hate the fact that an outsider became Shoku Warrior over their prodigy. I mean, they barely tolerate me, as is.” He ran a hand through his hair. “If they hear about this, which I’m sure they will, somehow, someway, I’m gonna get kicked out so fast, it’s not even gonna be _funny_.”

The two exchanged looks as the apprentice magician became increasingly distressed and he began to ramble.

**_–He’s being a bit…dramatic, don’t you think?-_ ** The dragon eyed him warily.

The bird’s gaze was wry. _–I don’t think he heard that last part.-_ It leaned down so that its eye was level with Rai’s face and tried to catch his attention. _–Child.-_ Rai didn’t seem to hear it. _–_ Child _._ Apprentice _._ Raimundo _.-_

Rai blinked and turned to look at the two creatures, pausing mid-word as the bird’s mental voice finally made itself heard.

_-Wuya will not be assigned as your master, child_ **_._ ** _-_ The bird explained gently. _–She has no magic at present, so she will not be able to supervise your practice as she should. It’s not safe for an apprentice to practice under the eye of someone who is unable to control any mistakes they make.-_

“But didn’t you say that Dojo can’t, so you only have one choice?” Rai frowned.

**_-Yes, but we aren’t necessarily…_ ** **required** **_to name either of the magicians involved as the master of the apprentice being fought over.-_ ** The dragon said mildly. **_–The best fit just tended to be one of the masters involved.-_ **

_–Of course, there were many more master magicians at the time, specializing in many different affinities, so the best fit was typically already nearby, if not personally involved. But, if they weren’t, then, well, that’s when you’d hear about people going on long journeys or adventures to find their master.-_ The bird rustled its wings, almost innocently. _-It seems Wuya might not have known about that part, but it’s hardly_ our _fault that she failed to do her research correctly.-_

“Okay…” Rai said slowly. “What’s that mean for me then?”

The bird hummed, looking over the dragon’s desk before peering down at him. _-I don’t suppose you’d be willing to travel to learn magic?-_

“Uh, no, not really.” Rai shrugged. “Gotta stick around to keep on top of all the Shoku Warrior responsibilities, y’know. Why, were you thinking of sending me to someone somewhere else?”

_-It was a possibility, since the closest magicians available to teach you are a dragon and a master magician with no magic. And those options aren’t really options at all.-_ The bird’s voice was wry as it explained, shifting into something more serious as it continued. _-That being said, we’ve decided on who your master is and they’re mostly uninvolved with the Xiaolin-Heylin...disagreement.-_

The dragon drew itself up importantly and its voice boomed like a proclamation. **_–Apprentice Magician Raimundo Pedrosa, Xiaolin Dragon of the Wind holding the rank of Shoku Warrior, is to be apprenticed under Master Magician Tanis until such time as he has been deemed adequately instructed.-_ **

Rai shielded his eyes as a bright light emanated from behind the two creatures, feeling oddly steady despite the shaking of the room around them. The light grew brighter and brighter, until all he could see was light and he was forced to close his eyes. The last thing he heard was the bird’s voice, faint and a bit cheery.

_-We look forward to seeing you back here once you’ve become a master magician yourself.-_

 

* * *

 

Rai groaned and rolled onto his side, trying to figure out where he was now. He remembered flying out to the usual clearing to practice with Dojo, pulling out an old circus routine he’d made up during some downtime, and something about a giant blue dragon arguing with a giant red phoenix? He frowned, prying one eye open to glance at his surroundings. It didn’t _look_ like that paper-filled room…

The second he spotted who else was waiting in the clearing for him, he immediately threw himself into a backwards somersault and eyed Wuya from the extra distance he’d managed to put between them.

“What the heck are _you_ still doing here?” he snapped sourly, recalling what exactly the Heylin witch had interrupted and what she’d been the cause of. “Don’t you have anything _better_ to do than hang around while I’m knocked out?”

Wuya was frowning as she watched him, making him more than a little uneasy, but he tried to ignore it. When she continued to remain silent, though, he rose to his feet and eyed Wuya warily, wondering whether he should demand an explanation or just bolt the second he found a chance.

“What?” Rai shifted uneasily, glancing around for Dojo. Where _was_ the temple guardian? Usually, the actual dragon would’ve _said_ something by now, even if it was just bluster, but Rai couldn’t seem to spot him.

Frowning now, he turned back to Wuya. “What’d you do to Dojo? And what are _you_ thinking about so hard?”

Wuya _finally_ responded, blinking a few times as she came back from whatever thoughts she’d been thinking. “Nothing you need to concern yourself over, Raimundo.” She shook her head and brushed invisible dirt off of her clothes. “And I did nothing to Dojo. He left on his own, yelling something about reinforcements.” She scoffed, rolling her eyes, and made a show of inspecting her nails.

“That still doesn’t explain why you stuck around,” Rai pointed out, looking wary as he spotted a hint of smugness in Wuya’s face.

The Heylin witch only shrugged, a smile beginning to tug at her lips. “I only forced the Trial because I was hoping to be appointed your master, but I’m not surprised that they didn’t; they always _were_ considerate of people’s preferences and we couldn’t have been the _only_ magicians left in the world.” She paused to sigh wistfully. “It would’ve made things _deliciously_ complicated for you, though, wouldn’t it have?”

Rai tried not to think about it too deeply with Wuya _right there_ , but he already knew he’d end up brooding over it when he had the time. “Yeah, well, sucks to be you then.”

Wuya barked out a laugh, grinning across the clearing at him as _something_ stirred the air around her. “What makes you think that was my _only_ goal?” A shiver ran down Rai’s spine as some kind of pressure started building and he took a reflexive step back before bracing himself. “You were asleep for _minutes_. Dojo _shrieked_ after you were dragged to the Trial and you didn’t even stir. He’s even been gone for, oh,”--she glanced up at the sky--“a couple of minutes now and well,”--she shot him a sly, tooth-baring grin--“the flashy magic isn’t the only way I know of to affect the world.”

Rai narrowed his eyes and scowled, hunching as the pressure began to weigh on him. “What did you do?”

Her grin only widened in response. “Why don’t I show you?”

And before he could react, what felt like an explosion rippled out from Wuya, extending away from her in all directions. Rai automatically threw an arm up to break the, well, what _would’ve_ been the leading edge of the shockwave if that’d been an actual explosion, but none of it was actually physical, so he was only momentarily buffeted by the change in pressure. He quickly dropped his arm and looked Wuya over to try to spot what she’d done, but nothing seemed to have changed.

After another moment of searching, Rai shrugged. “Looks the same to me.”

“Well, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised,” Wuya said after a beat, ambling forward. “It’s a _basic_ skill, but I recall you thought those were beneath you.” She paused. “Didn’t Dojo cover them while the pair of you were waiting for your magic to settle?”

“Uh, no?” Rai eyed her warily as she approached, caught between wanting to keep a good distance between them and standing his ground to look confident. Wuya wasn’t _supposed_ to have access to her magic and that clear stuff from earlier hadn’t _felt_ like magic, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t done something to change that with that...whatever it was just now. “There was a lot of stuff to go through and I dunno if Dojo even knows what’s supposed to be basic, so…” He shrugged again, sidling away from Wuya when he felt she was getting a bit too close.

The Heylin witch stopped and watched in amusement as he casually walked along the edge of the clearing to get away from her. “I suppose that’s the price you pay when you decide to have a creature of magic teaching you, instead of a human.”

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?” Rai halted, frowning at Wuya from about a third of the way across the clearing.

“Dojo’s a dragon,” she replied, sounding long-suffering. “And _as_ a dragon, there are things he can do that humans normally can’t, ways he can use magic that he barely thinks about, but that human magicians have to painstakingly learn. There are even things that will _entirely slip his mind_ because he never has to _think_ about them anymore, but an apprentice magician would have to have _spelled out_ for them.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the nearest tree, looking bored. “And that’s not even getting into the things he can do that would _kill_ a human, things humans can do that _dragons_ can’t, things he won’t think to cover because he’s _never_ needed them, but that you _will_.” She shot him a quietly triumphant grin as she spotted the probably disconcerted expression that now sat on Rai’s face. “But that’s not _my_ problem until I can get my magic back.”

“Why are you telling me this, Wuya? What’s in it for you?” Rai studied her a bit suspiciously. All that information for practically no reason? Why? What was she hoping to get out of it? His good will? His trust? He’d already given that a go and made his opinion _very_ clear, he’d thought, so what else could she want?

Wuya laughed. “That’s for _you_ to figure out, isn’t it? I can’t be giving you _all_ the answers, Raimundo.” She hummed thoughtfully. “Although...I suggest you look into those basics, maybe while you’re searching for your master magician?”

“Yeah, yeah, I get the point already.” Rai crossed his arms and glared at her, sounding a bit defensive. “You’ve got a whole lot more experience in this stuff than I do; no need to rub it all in my face.”

“At least you’re willing to admit it.” She tilted her head and then looked towards the temple, sighing as Rai reached out with his senses and felt the other Dragons approaching at speed. “Looks like my time here’s up. But, first…”

There was a dangerous edge to her grin as she shimmered and abruptly appeared in front of him, pressing her palm against his chest in about the same spot she had when she’d given him the magic in the first place. His heart _immediately_ began to race and Rai _threw_ himself back the moment he registered what she’d done, blasting her with wind to create even more distance between them. There was an abrupt tugging from the center of his chest, a weird, uncomfortable sort of feeling, and he lost his grip on his winds as he tried to figure out what that was.

Wuya was studying him with raised eyebrows when he glanced up at her, looking briefly surprised that he’d stopped, before frowning with thoughtful annoyance. “I suppose I should’ve expected that, considering how quickly you’d picked up magic, but I didn’t actually expect that to work.”

“What did you do _now_ , Wuya?” Rai was seriously reaching the end of his rope. He hadn’t had breakfast yet, Dojo had ditched him, Wuya showing up meant he didn’t get a chance to try out those new spells he’d been looking forward to all week, and now she’d done _something_ that she probably shouldn’t have been able to, based on her reaction. On _top_ of all of that, he’d had a weirdly, laid-back conversation with her that sorta reminded him of when he was on her side, gotten useful information about some of the possible difficulties he’d have with Dojo as his teacher, and had been apprenticed to some Tanis guy who he’d have to find a way to track down. And _now_ , the others were about to show up and probably demand an explanation as to what was going down. Which they completely deserved, but that would be all kinds of awkward for him.

“You really should stop expecting me to answer your questions, Raimundo.” Wuya shifted her stance until she looked as untouchable as she usually did. “After all, you aren’t _my_ apprentice anymore.”

“And I don’t wanna be,” Rai cut her off as she opened her mouth to, no doubt, offer to take him on again. “Once was enough. I’d rather take my chances with this Tanis dude that they said was uninvolved in this”--he gestured vaguely between himself and Wuya to indicate the Xiaolin-Heylin conflict--“mess.”

“Tanis?” Wuya looked like she was trying to remember who that was and then she shrugged. “I don’t recall any magicians with that name, but then, I haven’t exactly gone looking for them.” She grinned at him. “Someone to look up when I have the time, though, thank you.”

Rai narrowed his eyes and was just about to respond when the others burst into the clearing. Well...great. It was nice to know that they’d been worried, though.

 

* * *

 

A wave of expectant stillness rippled outwards from the clearing, causing the older monks and Omi to pause. Kimiko and Clay stirred uneasily in their beds, reacting to the change in atmosphere, and then abruptly woke up as the shockwaves of an explosion passed through the temple. The pair scrambled to their feet, Kimiko almost falling flat on her face if it wasn't for Clay reflexively catching her when her blanket refused to let her go, and rushed outside, already scanning for the source of the explosion.

It only took a moment of searching to figure out which direction the epicenter was in, since almost every monk they spotted kept glancing in the same direction, but they didn’t really need any help honing in on it; the silent, metaphysical explosion had come from the mountains Rai and Dojo had been sneaking off to for the past week or so and they knew only one person who felt like that particular mix of heat and wind.

“Kimiko! Clay!”

The Crouching Cougar skidded to a stop in the open courtyard just ahead of the two Dragons, Omi flashing them a quick grin as they quickly clambered in. They immediately set off again, the Crouching Cougar leaping over the temple’s walls and racing towards the forest while the trio strained their senses to search for their friend.

“Does anyone know what that was?” Clay asked once they were on their way, one hand keeping his hat on his head and looking around to see if he could somehow spot Rai the moment they slipped into the trees.

Omi shook his head, but Kimiko was the one who responded, peering off the other side of the Cougar for a flash of red or green. “Whatever it was, Rai was definitely involved,” she said, voice tense and flat. She clearly wasn’t over Rai’s whole reveal yet, but Clay couldn’t blame her; that wasn’t exactly a time he wanted to revisit either and _he_ wasn’t the one who had to somehow deal with sharing an element with a guy he liked. “He’s the only one we know who’s got fire and wind.”

“I have not felt him practicing for several minutes now,” Omi admitted, tightening his grip on the controls and silently trying to urge the Cougar faster. “Usually, I can feel him practicing until just after breakfast, but today, his practice cut off _very_ early.”

“Is _that_ when he's been going to practice it?” Kim paused for a moment, thinking back over the past week, and then scowled. “Well, no wonder he’s been looking tired then. He's getting up early to sneak off to practice and then coming back to do all of his stuff here.”

“You know...I don't think I've heard him complain about it once.” Clay scanned his side of the forest and reached out as far as he could with his senses, even as he considered his friend's recent behavior. A frown began to make its way onto his face. “But then, he's been making a real good effort to avoid running into us, now that I think about it.”

The other two didn’t get a chance to respond before the Cougar was buffeted by a violent squall, sending the trio ducking as Omi braced the Cougar and turned it into the wind. They made their way forward, squinting as they tried to peer ahead of where they were, but it was difficult to even keep their eyes open with how strong the wind was blowing.

Thankfully, it blew itself out fast and the three Dragons hurried towards the source of the squall, knowing from experience approximately how far away Rai had to be to create a gust that strong. They ran into Dojo coming the other way and Omi took that as a hint to bring the Cougar to a stop.

“Dojo! Where's Rai?”

“Back there fighting Wuya,” he said, ignoring their alarmed exclamations and gesturing vaguely behind him as he climbed up to Clay’s shoulder. “One second, we’re just about to try out some new magic things; the next, Wuya shows up, throws some weirdly transparent ball of magic, and Raimundo goes down.”

“What? What do you mean ‘Raimundo went down’?” Kimiko demanded, as Omi led the way with an almost desperate urgency in his bearing. “Rai doesn't just ‘go down’.”

“Kim’s right. Rai’s as likely to go down as a wild cat.” Clay wanted to scratch his head, but he didn't exactly have the opportunity. “You said it was some kinda magic ball?”

Dojo nodded vehemently. “Yeah! Except I've never seen it show up transparent before. Usually there's some sort of color to it because it tends to reflect the person who made it, but transparent? I have _no_ idea what that means.”

“Worry about that later,” Kim snapped, racing after Omi who’d broken into a run. “We can figure it out _after_ we kick Wuya’s butt and send her packing.”

The quartet burst into the clearing, almost running Omi over when he stopped abruptly, to find Wuya and Rai staring each other down from opposite sides of the clearing with narrowed eyes. Wuya looked impeccable as always, despite the suggestion of a fight that the earlier squall had hinted at. Rai was a bit scuffed up, but seemed no worse for wear.

“Rai?” Kimiko called out with an almost invisible hesitant undertone.

Said Dragon only momentarily flicked his gaze towards them, but a grin flashed across his face as he registered their presence. “Hey, guys! Glad you could make it.”

“Want a hand?” Clay offered, figuring that asking might be the fastest way to determine what the current situation was.

“Naw, I got this.” His smile sharpened as he turned his attention back to Wuya. “Unless you're planning on sticking around?”

Wuya scoffed. “Four on one? _Please_. You'll need more than just _children_ to defeat me.”

“We have done so before and we will do so again, if we must,” Omi said, scowling.

“Besides, you've got no magic right now and we kicked Heylin _butt_ at the throwdown last month.”

“You beat Spicer, Katnappe, Tubbimura, and Pandabubba.” Wuya looked decidedly unimpressed. “Chase, Hannibal, and I left once we'd gotten what we wanted out of the fight.”

“More like the three of you didn't wanna get beaten by kids _again_.” Kimiko took a step forward, narrowing her eyes as she prepared to fight. “Which is _exactly_ what's gonna happen if you don't _leave_.”

Wuya studied the lone female Dragon of this generation for a moment, before a sly smile spread across her face. “You almost sound _protective_ , Kimiko. Am I making you worry about Raimundo?” She mockingly shook her head. “Don't worry. You won't have to worry about him much longer.”

“Wait, what?” Clay glanced between Rai and Wuya, but the former only grimaced and refused to meet his gaze. “Why won't we be worrying about him?”

“What?” Omi yelped, immediately looking to Raimundo for reassurance, but the Shoku Warrier’s lack of refusal caused his heart to clench tight.

Kimiko was done listening to Wuya talk. She _would_ get the details from Rai later, but, for now, there was a Heylin witch’s face she could try to either beat up or burn. If she could just land. A. Single. _Hit_.

Wuya laughed as she easily dodged Kimiko’s first fire-covered blow, as well as the next kick and the follow up punch. She danced away from Clay’s earth-cracking kick and his following haymaker, spun under Omi’s burst of water and his acrobatics, and deflected Rai’s kicks, whose trailing winds hit the ground and threw dust into the air, obscuring their vision and filling the clearing with dust. Wuya laughed, delighted and triumphant, and when Rai blew the dust away, she was gone, having slipped through the trees during those few short moments when no one could see her.

Once they were sure Wuya was gone, Kimiko turned to Rai with her arms crossed and a forbidding expression on her face. “So, what _exactly_ was she talking about when she said we wouldn't have to worry about you anymore?”

“Uh…” Rai scratched the back of his head, glancing at each of them and then looking away. “I might've... _accidentally_ gotten myself apprenticed to some Tanis dude?”

“How do ya _‘accidentally’_ get yerself apprenticed ta someone?” Clay asked skeptically, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Apparently, there’s a”--Rai gestured vaguely in the air--“thing where two magicians who’re fighting over an apprentice can get this pair of record keepers, I think, to make the decision for them, which is what Wuya did.” He tried to shove his hands into his nonexistent pockets and then crossed them after a beat, looking uncomfortable and shooting Dojo a scowl. “Would’ve been nice to know about it beforehand, but _Dojo_ didn’t remember it and Wuya implied that Dashi wouldn’t have needed to know it in the first place, so…” Rai shrugged, shifting his weight.

“That still doesn't explain why Wuya would say we don't have to worry about you anymore.” Kimiko crossed her arms too, scowling flatly at Rai. “Or why you didn't say anything when she did.”

“Well, it's not like I would've _told_ you guys I was gonna train in it when you weren't even all that happy about knowing I had it in the _first_ place,” Rai snapped back, beginning to glare.

“ _Yeah_. Because it reminds me of when you’d gone to _Wuya_.” Kimiko made a frustrated sound, uncrossing her arms and balling her hands into fists as she stormed towards Rai. “Every time you pull those flames out, I remember you snapping your fingers and raising those rock golems to chase me and Clay down. When they're out and throwing green across your face? I can see you standing next to Wuya while she kicks our butts all over that clearing. When you're leaking Heylin intent like an open faucet? The Shen Gong Wu vault or that time during the Heylin Comet.” Her voice drops into something lower and harsher, with a hint of a hiss to it. “And fire’s been _my_ element since we came to the Temple. Why _wouldn't_ I be upset?”

Clay tilted his hat back to look between Kimiko and Rai. “Kim’s gotten most of my reservations in her speech--well, except fer the one where I think having two elements is jus’ the tiniest bit unfair ta the rest of us”--he shot Rai a lopsided grin that Rai tentatively returned--“but it's gonna take time fer us ta get used to it, pardner.”

“Yeah, well, that's _one_ thing you might not have, if we don't hurry up and reassure the old guys that everything's been handled,” Dojo suddenly added, popping his head up from over Clay’s shoulder and glancing back towards the temple. “You guys cover everything you need to cover?”

There was a pause as the Dragon’s exchanged looks and shrugged or nodded.

“Everything that's particularly sensitive, I reckon,” Clay answered when everyone looked to be in agreement.

Rai found it a bit odd that Omi hadn’t said much during the entire conversation and did a double-take when he noticed where and what Omi was doing. “Omi? You alright, lil dude?”

Said Dragon straightened abruptly from where he’d been crouching and then blinked, confused and a bit startled at the sound of his name. “I…” Omi glanced down at the patch of grass in front of him before violently shaking his head and making his way over to where the other Dragons were gathered, one hand rubbing at his temple. “Something here is making my head hurt.” He absently glanced around the clearing, stumbling a little as he reached the others. “I do not like this clearing. Are we leaving soon?”

“We’re leaving now,” Kimiko said, pulling out the Shen Gong Wu they’d used to get there. “Crouching Cougar.”

Rai and Clay exchanged worried looks as Kimiko climbed into the driver’s seat, all three of them rushing to help Omi up when he almost slipped back down the side of the Cougar. The moment the Dragon of Water settled into a seat, Dojo scurried over to inspect him as well as he could, pressing an ear to his chest and listening to his heart rate and breathing.

“You _sound_ fine to me,” Dojo declared, pulling back to eye Omi critically before shrugging, looking a bit sheepish. “But then, I’ve never been very good at the whole medical thing.”

“What about magically? Could it be something magical making him feel bad?”

“That is an excellent point,” Dojo said, pointing at Clay. He then turned to look at Rai expectantly. “Well?”

“Wait, you want _me_ to do that?” Rai practically squawked. “How come _you_ can’t do that? I’ve only been playing around with magic for the past _week_ or so; _you’re_ the one who _is_ magic. Shouldn’t you know how to check someone over with it?”

“I’m a dragon, Raimundo.” Dojo gestured at himself. “My magic’s not really meant for medicine. It’s meant for lighting things on fire, changing sizes, and flying, _not_ checking how someone’s doing or healing them.” He ticked the list off on his fingers and then set his hands on his nonexistent hips.

“I didn’t even know you could _do_ that until you mentioned it.” Rai ran a hand through his hair, looking between Dojo and Omi, the latter of whom was frowning harshly while trying to massage his temples harder. “Do I have to try _now_?”

“Unless you'd rather try in the temple with the older monks on the lookout like a town o’ prairie dogs for a hawk?” Clay raised an eyebrow.

“Besides, we don't know what it is and the faster we can figure it out, the faster we can deal with it,” Kimiko added tersely as she steered the Cougar back through the trees.

Rai glanced between the other Dragons and Omi. “Is this _really_ the best idea, guys? Having the _amateur magician_ check over a _headache_? I’ve barely had any idea what I’m doing when I’m _practicing_ and now you want me to poke around in Omi’s _head_?”

“Rai.”

“I’m serious! What if I mess up and it hurts Omi?”

“Just _do it_ , _Rai_!”

Rai flinched at Kimiko’s sudden shout and then grimaced, scooting closer to Omi to make it easier to reach him. “Here's hoping I don't screw it up then.”

The Brazilian reached out to tentatively rest a hand on top of Omi’s head, tugging gently at the embers in his soul. They brightened, burning fiercely at his call, but he coaxed only the smallest amount towards his hand. The fire inched its way down his arm and pooled in his palm, leaving the somewhat familiar feeling of heat under his skin to mark its passage. Then, for a split second, he panicked, frantically trying to come up with some way to find out what was wrong with Omi, and the magic _flared_ , rushing down from the embers, through his arm, and out of his palm. Omi whimpered, curling up further as the wave of magic flowed over him, and then Clay yanked Rai’s hand away.

 

* * *

 

The second he’d felt the surge of magic and Omi’s immediate attempt to get away from it, the pieces slid together in Clay’s head and he was snatching Rai’s hand away from Omi as fast as he could, panic making his grip tighter than usual. Rai hardly seemed to notice, terrified gaze darting between the miserable ball Omi had turned himself into and his hand.

“Was that me? What did I do? Why’s he hurting?”

“What’s happening?”

“Rai. _Rai_.”

Clay grabbed Rai’s shoulder with his other hand, shaking the other teen to try to pull his attention away from where Omi was cradling his head and looked to be on the verge of tears.

“Rai. I think I know what’s wrong and how to fix it, but you gotta tell me if you can do it.” Clay shook Rai again when the latter didn’t immediately respond. “ _Rai_!”

Scared, guilty green eyes finally turned towards him and Clay felt his heart tighten at the expression, but he didn’t stop to reassure his friend. He had to make sure Omi would be alright first.

“Rai, can you tell if Omi’s got any magic in or on him?”

“I-yeah.” Rai seemed to shake himself and took a deep breath. “Yeah, I can do that.” He reached out for Omi once again, steadier and more confident than he had earlier.

“What’re you thinking?” Dojo was curled around Kimiko’s arm, safely out of the way and looking curiously back at Clay.

“I’ll tell ya if I’m right,” Clay replied, voice worried and a bit grim.

He watched Rai pass his hands around Omi, Rai’s expression going from mostly-steady determination to a worried, concerned frown.

“He’s got a lot of it all over,” Rai said, frown deepening. “A _lot_ more than I thought he’d have and it’s all sticky. Feels kinda nasty, too.” He twitched and confusion abruptly joined the worry and concern. “What the heck…?”

“Rai, can you get all the magic _off_ a’ Omi?” This was the important part. If Rai could do it, then Omi should be, more or less, fine, but Clay hadn’t forgotten what Dojo’d said about Chase’s magic.

“I...think so? Gimme a second.” Rai’s brow furrowed as he made a gesture that Clay recognized from when they were first learning to use their elements, one that Rai used to gather the air into his hands and keep it there. Omi’s shoulders began to drop, finally relaxing as the pain leaked away, while Rai’s frown became more pronounced. _Something_ was clearly happening, since Omi was looking better, and Clay could only hope that he’d been correct.

A moment later, Rai cried out in pain, doubling over as though he’d just gotten punched in the gut, and Clay’s heart jumped up into his throat.

 

* * *

 

Kimiko had long since stopped the Cougar just out of sight of the temple and had been watching Clay troubleshoot as quietly and calmly as she could. Which turned out to be not all that calm at all, as the tension pulling her taut could testify, though she’d managed to remain quiet, at least. Seeing two of her best friends in pain and the third frantically trying to find a solution sapped the last of her ability to keep out of the way.

“I’d... _appreciate_ it if _someone_ could, maybe, _fill me in on what’s happening_?”

“Um…” Dojo winced sympathetically as Rai gritted his teeth against another cry, wrapping his arms tight around his stomach in a reflexive action to try to relieve the pain. “Well...from what I can tell, it looks like Omi might’ve absorbed too much magic from the clearing back there and Clay thought that Rai could pull it out.”

“And he’s hurting now because?”

Dojo cringed. “Omi’s...kinda leaking Chase’s unstable, sticky, greedy magic everywhere and it’s trying to steal Rai’s?”

Kimiko took a deep breath and consciously unclenched her fists. “And _why_ does Omi have Chase’s magic?”

“It’s...leftover traces from when he was a cat.” Dojo scratched the back of his head. “Chase is rather terrible at using the magic he’s got and he tends to leave traces of it in everything he uses it on, so that’s how Omi has Chase magic all over him. Not that Omi can use it.”

“So, Omi has some of Chase’s magic because Chase is a terrible magician and Rai’s hurting because Chase’s magic is trying to steal his,” Kimiko summarized, quickly deciding that she didn’t need to know _why_ Chase’s magic was trying to steal Rai’s until _after_ the situation was fixed. “Okay. Can Clay or I do anything to _help_?”

“Uh…” Dojo’s eyes darted around at the nearby trees as he stalled for time. “Well…”

“He probably doesn’t know of anythin’.” Clay shook his head, visibly tensing as Rai let out a distressed noise and squeezed his eyes shut tighter. “Ya heard him earlier: medicine isn’t his thing.”

“I can try to pull it back to myself?” Omi offered weakly, but he was immediately shot down by everyone else.

“We don’t need you more incapacitated than you already are, pardner,” Clay replied. “You doin’ okay now, though?”

Omi nodded. “I am...much better now.”

“Good.” Kimiko nodded sharply, before turning to Rai. “Rai? Any ideas?”

It took him a moment to respond, inhaling harshly and then prying his jaw open. “Fire, maybe? Couldn’t hurt.” He curled tighter with a wince. “Well, any _more_.”

Kimiko raised her hand and the air above her palm ignited. “Okay. Now what?” she said tersely.

Rai squinted one eye up at her, blinking for a moment before reaching out towards the flame. Kimiko resisted the urge to pull her hand back or snuff the fire out, the rising tension in the air making her antsy, and she forced herself to hold still as _something_ began tugging at her fire, changing the feel of it into something wilder and more dangerous. She assumed that was Rai making the change, hopefully doing whatever it was that he needed to do to stop hurting, but she wouldn’t know until Rai finished. She hoped it wouldn’t take too long, though, since their proximity to temple and the older monks was nerve-wracking, particularly since Rai was beginning to leak Heylin intent again.

Kimiko eyed the fire in her hand warily as it began to take on a mostly-green tinge, in a shade she was seeing _way_ too much of recently, with streaks of golden green that were unsettling, yet familiar. There were also some weird flickers of clear patches, where she could still _feel_ the fire even if it wasn’t visible, and hints of silver or gray that would briefly color the tips of the flames. She figured all of them were probably some type of magic, but that wasn’t at _all_ helpful in this situation; it was frustrating that the only way she could help was by providing a flame for whatever reason Rai needed one for.

At least the fire seemed to be helping; Rai was slowly relaxing, uncurling from his hunched position and beginning to slump in his seat. When he finally let his arm drop, he looked exhausted and Kimiko was left holding a discomfiting ball of green and gold fire.

“You good now, Rai?” Clay asked, peering at the Shoku Warrior who was having trouble keeping his eyes open.

Rai hummed agreeably, settling deeper into his seat and nodding vaguely in Clay’s approximate direction. Kimiko frowned, glancing from the ball of magic and fire in her hand to the only other Dragon awake, and then kicked lightly at Rai’s feet to get his attention. Rai grumbled and shoved himself upright, rubbing at his face to try to keep himself awake, before making a questioning sound at Kimiko.

“We need to get rid of this.” She gestured at the fire in her hand. “Is there anything I need to know about it before I put it out?”

Rai clearly tried to get his brain to work, but was obviously unsuccessful. He shrugged tiredly in response. “I dunno. Don’t think so, though, since it’s mostly just fire.”

“And the leftover magic in there?” Clay asked, a bit wary.

“It shouldn’t be a problem for you two,” Dojo replied, allowing Rai to sag against the side of the Cougar. “As long as you’re not trying to pick it up yourself and no one uses it on you, you’ll be fine.”

Rai covered his mouth as he yawned, blinking blearily in the direction of the temple and then squinting up at the sun in the sky. “Man, I can’t believe it’s still pretty early. I _already_ wanna go back to bed.”

“Omi already has,” Kimiko pointed out as she snuffed out the fire, flinching with Clay as a wave of Heylin intent rippled outwards. “I guess that magic takes a lot more out of you than your element.”

“Well, _yeah_ ,” Rai said, pushing away from the side of the Cougar and wavering as he tried to stay upright. “‘S still new and ‘s wilder than my wind. ‘S interesting, too. Kinda fun actually.”

Kimiko snorted, turning to finally drive the Cougar back to the temple. “Sure. Fun. It's the reason you're about the fall over and you call it fun.”

“It's also the reason you hurt when Chase’s magic touches ya now and it's probably the reason Wuya’s still interested in recruiting ya,” Clay added wryly.

Rai made a dismissive sound and waved them off with an absent, tired gesture. “Doesn't make it less cool.”

Kimiko and Clay exchanged exasperated looks. “Go ta sleep, Rai. We don't want ya accidentally blurting somethin’ out when we get back to the temple.”

“I don't spill _secrets_. Even when I'm tired.” Rai crossed his arms and pouted, once again sagging against the side of the Cougar.

“You better keep to that then ‘cause the older monks apparently decided they needed to see us,” Kimiko replied, spotting the older monks who’d gathered at the entrance. She pulled the Cougar to a stop in front of them, turning around to shake Omi awake.

“We're home, Omi.” She pitched her voice low, not knowing exactly how tired Omi was, but not exactly wanting him to wake abruptly. Omi made a protesting noise and opened an eye, squinting up at Kimiko disgruntledly.

“We're back at the temple,” she said, voice still quiet but closer to normal speaking tones than it was before. “Do you want me to carry you back to your room?”

Omi immediately shook his head and then paused, groaning as he realized that he had to push himself upright again. He rubbed his eyes as he did so, blinking rapidly in the late morning sun before turning back to Kimiko.

“Why have the elder monks gathered to welcome us back?”

Kimiko shrugged, watching sharply as Omi dropped over the edge of the Cougar’s side. “I don’t know. Have they ever done something like this before?”

“Not that I can recall.” Omi watched Rai drop to the ground and almost stumble, the Shoku Warrior silently groaning and attempting to rub at his face without letting the elder monks notice. “Perhaps something has come up?”

“Something came up, alright,” Dojo muttered, just loud enough for the Dragons to hear. “Something reeking of magic and intent not too far from the Temple.The last time _that_ happened, all of them ended up supervised by rock golems in the middle of the main courtyard, while they waited for you guys to fix things.”

Rai darted a sheepish glance in Dojo’s direction, shoulders hunching at the reference. “Well...this one wasn’t exactly my fault… It was mostly Wuya doing things. Again.”

Kimiko shot him an unimpressed look. “If they're that willing to try to throw you out, then they won't exactly care _whose_ fault it is, will they?”

Rai grimaced and didn't reply, tiredly picking up the Crouching Cougar after it shrank back down.

“At least Master Fung’s with them?” Clay offered, nodding in said monk’s direction when Rai shot him a questioning look. “I know you said he can't do much about yer situation, but the other monks don't have much of a say in how we go about things, as long as he’s around.”

“Master Fung was chosen by the other elders to guide and teach this generation of Xiaolin Dragons,” Omi explained absently, beginning to lean into Kimiko. “They will not replace him unless every monk agrees that he is incapable of guiding us or that he is guiding us incorrectly.”

“What do they consider incorrect?” Clay asked, a bit worried.

“Pretty sure magic _anything_ and ditching you guys for Wuya’s considered incorrect,” Rai answered wryly as they began to make their way towards the group of monks.

Dojo huffed a laugh. “You want the short list or the details?”

“How about we wait til _after_ they talk to us to worry about it?” Kimiko said. “If we've already done it, then we can't exactly _un_ do it in the next few seconds. If we haven't, then it can wait until we're back in our rooms or practicing in the courtyard.”

Rai shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

“I don't mind so long as delaying it doesn't mean we forget.” Clay made a show of glancing at the gathered monks, while watching Dojo out of the corner of his eye. “It sounds like that's some mighty useful information that we _really_ should've gotten when we first arrived, not when we've already got a Shoku Warrior.”

“Ehehe, well…” Dojo scratched sheepishly at the back of his head.

“Another thing you can't be expected to remember because you're a 1500 year old dragon whose presumably been helping Xiaolin Warriors for most of his life?”

Dojo crossed his arms, huffed, and turned away with his snout in the air. “Well, if that's how you guys’re gonna treat me, I could always leave you all to deal with the Xiaolin-Heylin fight by yourselves.”

They exchanged looks and then shrugged.

“We'd probably be fine,” Rai said.

Omi nodded. “It _has_ been about three years since we started. _And_ we've been mostly successful when it comes to fighting off the Heylin.”

“You could,” Clay agreed. “But then you’d always be worryin’ about how we’re doing and who we’re fightin’ and if we’ll be fine gettin’ back.”

“Yeah. Considering we’ve managed to find and then fight off Wuya, Chase, and Hannibal in the three years since we’ve arrived, I wouldn’t be surprised if we found some _other_ Heylin villain to fight off.” Kimiko rolled her eyes, but her voice wasn’t entirely serious. “How many major Heylin villains could there be anyway?”

Dojo shrugged. “Who knows? _I_ certainly don’t. If there were any others, they didn’t exactly make themselves particularly memorable.”

They were silent for a few moments.

“That’s probably gonna come back to bite us, isn’t it?” Rai said, resigned.

“Probably,” Clay replied, while Kimiko sighed, both just as resigned as Rai.

“Greaaaat.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Well...that wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be.”

The Ghost set his hands on his hips, surveying the temple compound laid out in the valley below his position. It hadn’t taken him long at all to find it and it was clear to him that the place had little to no security to speak of. Granted, it didn’t look like a place that held much of value in the first place, so it made sense that they wouldn’t need any security, but that only made things easier for him.

He watched the tiny figures hurrying about the compound for several minutes and decided that things were a bit too tense down there to try his luck just then. He settled in to wait for things to calm down before he made his move, figuring that the majority of the inhabitants would likely head to sleep once it was dark and that it was unlikely there would be any sort of night patrol. _Something_ had riled them up not long ago, which was the main reason he wasn’t currently heading down to search for the items Chase Young had asked him to find, but the way the figures moved suggested they might be older people; they’d probably calm down after a while and things would be a piece of cake once they’d gone to sleep. In his experience, older people tended to sleep heavier than younger ones, so he’d be fine, even if he wasn’t as careful as he usually was.

It didn’t take long for the sun to sink below the mountains, casting the valley and the temple nestled within it in shadow, but it took a while longer for the temple to quiet. The young man snuggled deeper into his hoodie as he waited for the lights to go out, doing his best to ignore the wind that’d picked up as the shadows grew deeper. As the lights continued to shine, he began picking his way down into the valley, keeping as quiet as he could so as not to kick the temple’s monks back into high alert and make his job more difficult.

By the time he reached the temple compound, only a handful of lights were still shining and he decided that was good enough for him; if these monks were anything like the ones on TV, the remaining lights were probably illuminating a library of some sort and he could be mostly assured that those monks weren’t likely to be moving anytime soon.

He walked through the front gate and wandered through the compound, dismissing many of the buildings when a quick glance through a window let him figure out their purpose. The training courtyards and meditation gardens were also similarly dismissed as too well-traveled and too insecure to store the odd collection of items Young had asked him to find.

Once he'd narrowed the possibilities down to only a few buildings, the young man began considering his options. Based off what he could see, the odd collection of items was probably hidden somewhere out of the way, where it wouldn't look unusual for someone to visit, but where people didn't usually go. Which meant…

He slipped into one of the buildings and began going room to room, first checking that it was empty before doing a quick search of typical hiding places. For the most part, the rooms were either empty or mainly contained furniture, but he came across a kitchen at one point and helped himself to some juice and snacks in the fridge. It wasn’t like they’d really notice something so small, but he expected to be far away from the temple by the time _that_ kind of detail would be relevant.

The next building he checked also turned up a whole lot of nothing, though there was a tense moment when he almost walked into a room full of people sleeping before catching himself. He froze for several moments to make sure he hadn’t woken anyone up and then snuck out when he only heard breathing, cursing whoever decided that stall-like bedrooms were appropriate for a bunch of monks. He supposed there was probably something about worldly possessions in giving them rooms that didn’t have doors, but if the other stall-rooms were anything like the first, the lesson clearly hadn’t sunk in. ~~~~

On the way to the next building, his steps faltered as he passed by the tallest building in the compound, one that he’d originally dismissed as important but unlikely to hold anything sensitive because, well, that would be a bit too obvious, wouldn’t it? Especially since there didn’t seem to be anything else inside it except decorations and some weird pot.

He ended up poking around the single room anyway, keeping an ear out to hopefully prevent anyone from sneaking up on him and sticking to the shadows of the supporting pillars in the hopes that anyone who _did_ enter wouldn’t immediately spot him. There was nothing to find, though, so he made his way across the center of the room to exit the building and go on to the next one.

The rest of his search went about as well as those first few buildings, all of them empty of the items he was looking for. He found himself in front of the tallest building once again, arms crossed as he glowered past the compound. Assuming the information Young had given him was solid, that weird collection of items he wanted was hidden _somewhere_ in this compound. Where _exactly_ they were, he hadn’t been able to figure out, but it was looking more and more like he’d have to give tonight up as a failure and stake the place out in order to get even a clue as to where those yo-yos, the diamond helmet, and the eagle-telescope were. Even the _mirror_ , since he was pretty certain that there was a _specific_ mirror Young was looking for and not just _any_ mirror from this temple.

He heaved a silent, frustrated sigh and turned to give the building behind him another once over. It was the emptiest of the buildings he’d searched and, with only a single room to search, a second look would be quick. Not that a second look turned up anything; the room was as empty and uninteresting as it had been the first time he’d searched it.

The Ghost _really_ wanted to hit something in frustration, but that could wait until he was safely away from the temple. He was also somewhat regretting the fact that he’d stopped for a drink and snack in the kitchen, having assumed that this assignment would be an easy one before he’d even finished his search of the grounds. Well, _that_ was a lesson relearned; he’d apparently gotten _too_ comfortable when he’d seen no security and forgot that there would have to be a _very good reason_ why the temple didn’t need security, if the things Young said were hidden there hadn’t been stolen yet.

Stewing in his frustrated thoughts, the young man wasn’t as careful as he should’ve been on his way to the room’s exit, brushing into some of the bells as he passed them by. There was a ringing that he winced at, his heart immediately beginning to race as he strained his hearing in case someone happened to be close enough to investigate, but what _really_ caught his attention was the faint groaning of stone coming from behind and down. He paused for a moment, quickly weighing his options, and then he turned back to give the area behind him a closer look.

Nothing seemed to have changed, but he was pretty sure he’d heard something attempt to move, so he headed over to the red ring around the pot and crouched to investigate it. He hadn’t paid much attention to the stones earlier, but now that he was looking, there was something about the right side that felt...off to him.

Frowning now, he straightened up and went back to the bells he’d bumped, trying to recall how many and in what order he’d made them ring. Making a guess, he tapped at four of them, turning to watch the red ring around the pot and listening hard for any stone-moving sounds or footsteps.

There! Underneath the ringing, the sound of groaning rock briefly made an appearance, though he didn’t manage to see which rocks were trying to move. Either way, that was clearly the wrong combination of bells, so he tried another, this time with five bells.

There was no sound that time, so he tried a different combination of four bells. That one _also_ didn’t result in any stone movement, so he tried his original quartet of bells, just to make sure he hadn’t been imagining things. He hadn’t.

After a moment of thought, he shortened it to three bells and the groaning stone sound lasted a beat longer than it did the last time, so he swapped the order of the bells and tried again. _This_ time, the groaning noise went on for longer as half of the red stones sank into the floor, revealing a hidden area under the tower.

“Huh. So, that’s where they are,” he said, standing at the edge of the staircase and peering down into the darkness. He glanced back at the doorway and then hurried down, acutely aware of the time now that he’d found what he was looking for. While the probable remaining time before the monks woke up wasn’t as tight as he’d ever experienced, he’d still spent a good while testing out bell combinations and there was no telling whether anyone had noticed the stone stairs dropping into the floor. Best to assume they had and finish up as quickly as possible than to get caught.

There were symbols carved regularly in the outer curve of the basement, but he didn’t pay any attention to them, hurrying down to the bottom where he figured the items would _actually_ be stored. The longer he descended the stairs, though, the more the carvings began to catch his attention until he paused in front of one depicting the black-white spiral thing in a circle.

Tapping his fingers on his thigh, he considered the carving for a moment and then shook his head with a sigh. He reached out to press the carving into the wall, not entirely surprised when the stone sunk into the wall before popping back out, though he’d never seen a _stone_ push-to-open drawer before. He pulled out a flashlight and pointed it into the drawer, raising an eyebrow when he spotted two yo-yos with half of the black-white circle thing on each. So, _that’s_ what those carvings were for.

The two yo-yos went into his bag and he closed the drawer, listening for any sounds of an alert as he headed further down with an eye on each of the carvings he passed by. The helmet with the diamond on top wasn’t far from the two yo-yos, but the eagle telescope and the mirror turned out to be closer to the entrance, something he didn’t realize until he’d gone all the way to the bottom and was racing to get back up before anyone realized he’d been by.

By the time he left the building, he was _really_ feeling the time crunch, leaping the front stairs of the building and ignoring the noise of the stone stairs groaning back into place. He darted back towards the entrance of the temple compound, skirting the edges of the empty areas and sticking to the deeper shadows as he made his way past building after building. He was almost at the entrance when he abruptly froze and ducked back around the corner, hoping that the figure in the doorway hadn’t spotted him.

His heart was racing as he waited in silence, but it didn’t seem like whoever that was had noticed his approach. A quick peek at the figure confirmed it, though that still left him with the problem of how to leave the compound before anyone else woke up. He cast his gaze around at what he could see, wracking his memory for any other way out of the compound aside from the one he was closest to and, possibly, the wall in front of him, but a way out hadn’t exactly been high on his list of priorities. Not when he’d assumed this would be a quick in and out, anyway.

He considered the wall in front of him again, stepping up to get a sense of what kind of climb it would be if he went with this method of leaving the compound, and almost made a noise when he realized that it probably wouldn’t be that bad of a climb. He glanced around the corner to check on what the figure was doing and watched it amble back into the compound, clearly lost in thought.

He waited until he couldn’t hear their footsteps anymore and then snuck out as fast as he could, not wanting to get caught inside the compound for any reason anymore. All that waiting and delay had made him tense and twitchy, but he didn’t relax until he was a good distance away from the temple and well on his way to where he’d left his things.

Rolling his shoulders, he set his pack down and stretched, shaking out his legs and then taking a seat to make sure he’d gotten everything he was supposed to. One eagle-shaped telescope thing, one mirror with a weird design on it, one bulky and ridiculous-looking samurai type helmet, and two black and white yo-yos with one half of the black and white balance-circle thing on each. Five items total and he was pretty sure that was all Young wanted him to get.

He replaced all five things into his pack, arranging them so that they could all fit as comfortably as they could for the trip back to the rest of his things and then on to the Land of Nowhere. Resettling his pack on his back, he glanced back at the temple before heading on. Maybe once he’d gotten a deal hammered out with Pandabubba, he could take some time off to drop in on his family. He was overdue for a visit anyway.

 

* * *

 

Master Fung ran through his morning stretches, deep in thought. Someone not from the temple had left the compound early in the morning, early enough that most of the temple’s inhabitants were still asleep. He figured the only reason the Dragons had not noticed was because Raimundo and Omi were both exhausted from whatever they had gotten into yesterday morning, but he could not think of any reason for someone to sneak into the Temple so late at night.

Perhaps he should check on the Shen Gong Wu Vault, since that tended to be the main goal of any midnight interloper. He moved through another few movements. Or he could leave the Dragons to investigate. It would be good for them to track down this thief themselves, especially after the past few months of inaction.

It would also give them a chance to figure out how Raimundo’s position of Shoku Warrior affected their teamwork, in addition to whatever secret they were keeping from him. He had a suspicion as to what that was, but he would not pry. Plausible deniability, he believed it was called.

He went through another few movements. The Dragons would be waking up soon, if he was not mistaken. He would talk to them about the possible-thief once the Dragons had eaten.

 

* * *

 

Rai dragged himself to the table, yawning widely but looking much better than he had yesterday afternoon. He slid into his usual seat and blinked blearily at his porridge for a moment before glancing around for the other plates of food.

Clay let out a relieved sigh and then tucked back into his breakfast, briefly checking on Omi as he did so. The youngest monk was steadily working through his second or third bowl of porridge, so Clay could finally let himself relax. Yesterday’s misadventure didn’t seem to have left any ill effects on the others, other than the need for a good night’s sleep, but Clay would be keeping an eye out anyway. It _was_ partially his fault that both Rai and Omi had worn themselves out trying to get the magic outta Omi.

Breakfast passed mostly uneventfully, though it was...comfortable in a way that it hadn’t been since before the whole time travel mess. Probably since Rai wasn’t trying to avoid them, Omi was actually eating with them, and Kimiko wasn’t as riled up about Rai’s magic as she had been before yesterday’s situation had occurred. Clay was pretty sure they all still needed to talk about the whole magic thing, but that could wait until later; for now, he just wanted to soak up the good vibes like a pig in a mud bath.

They were just cleaning up their dishes and the table when Master Fung entered, sweeping his gaze across the room and nodding minutely when he spotted all four of them there. Everyone stopped and exchanged glances before turning to hear what Master Fung had to say.

“Dragons.” He looked troubled and that only made the rest of them pay closer attention to what he was saying. “This morning, I spotted an intruder leaving the temple compound, though I did not think much of it at the time; since the Shen Gong Wu began revealing themselves, we have had frequent nighttime visitors, as I’m sure the four of you have noticed.”

All four of them made various noises of agreement.

“However, I have just checked the Shen Gong Wu vault and discovered that the intruder took only five Shen Gong Wu: the Ying-Yang Yo-yos, the Reversing Mirror, the Wushan Geyser, and the Eagle Scope.”

“We lost the Ying-Yang Yo-yos, the Reversing Mirror, _and_ the Wushan Geyser?” Kimiko immediately said, looking alarmed and glancing back at both Omi and Rai.

“Damn.” Rai started to run a hand through his hair and then stopped abruptly, pulling his hand away and making a face as he realized that he’d just gotten soapy water in his hair. “ _Really_? Come _on_ , man.”

“But which villain would want those five Shen Gong Wu?” Omi wondered, resuming the post-meal cleanup.

“Well, we know Chase used three of them very, _very_ well and managed to get the entire _world_ under his rule within a few hours,” Rai said, turning back to washing the dishes.

“And the Reversing Mirror’s useful, even if ya ain’t planning on takin’ over the world,” Clay added, putting dishes away and almost pointedly ignoring the Mirror’s role in bringing Wuya back to full power. It wasn’t like _that_ particular use of the Mirror would be relevant when Wuya already _had_ a body.

“But, why the Eagle Scope in particular?” Kimiko asked, drying the dishes with a carefully, and constantly, dry towel. “It doesn’t really do much except let you see things far away and I’m pretty sure you can do that with binoculars or a normal telescope.”

“With the Fountain of Hui, it _did_ also allow one to acquire any knowledge he or she could want,” Omi reminded them.

“Didn't Chase use it on that T-Rex we now keep in the Jurassic Hall?” Clay asked, pausing and glancing back at the others. “The one Rai sometimes plays chess with?”

“Yeah, he did. And that's the _only_ reason we're currently sitting at a tie.” Rai didn't sound all that serious as he rinsed the last of the soap suds off his hands and the grin playing at the corners of his mouth confirmed it.

“But, we still have the Fountain of Hui, right?” Kimiko brought the conversation back to the main topic, handing the last of her plates to Clay and tossing the towel into the pile of dirty cloths.

“Master Fung only said we lost those five, so I assume we still have it.”

“So, who do we know would have a reason to get those five Shen Gong Wu?” Rain leaned against the counter and exchanged glances with the rest of them.

“We know Chase managed to take over the world with the Ying-Yang Yo-yos and the Wushan Geyser.” Clay closed the cabinet door and turned to the rest of the room.

“And Wuya managed _that_ with the Reversing Mirror and the Serpent’s Tail.” Kimiko crossed her arms.

“Honestly, it seems more like somethin’ Chase would do, sendin’ someone else to get the Wu for him,” Clay said thoughtfully. “Do we know anythin’ about the intruder? Mebbe a name or what they look like?”

“I’m afraid not, young monks,” Master Fung said. “Though I will suggest that you take your conversation outside. Other monks _do_ use the kitchen, you know.”

“Although, they never bother to enter while we’re here. Wonder why,” Rai muttered sarcastically under his breath, following Clay out of the room.

The four of them ended up in the training courtyard, leaning against or sitting on top of various pieces of training equipment, except for Omi; the Dragon of Water began running through his morning exercises, since he’d missed most of yesterday’s training, but he was clearly still planning on participating in the conversation.

“Hannibal Bean probably has the most reason for wanting to mess with us, though, since he hasn’t had his chance at taking over the world yet,” Rai said, hopping up to sit on top of a wooden post.

“Or mebbe he’s already had his chance and gotten trampled by Chase and Wuya,” Clay offered, getting into the starting stance for tai chi. “Those two ain’t no pushovers, as we’ve seen.”

“But what if it’s Chase?” Kimiko considered the remaining training dummies propped up on the other end of the courtyard with a scowl. “The only reason we even managed to beat him was because of Dojo and Good Jack.”

“What about me?” Rai sounded offended.

Kim rolled her eyes. “If Dojo and Good Jack hadn’t brought our chi back, we’d still be zombies doing Chase’s housework.” She lit a flame and _threw_ it at one of the dummies, the four of them following its arc until it exploded against its target. “Otherwise, I _still_ think what you did was _really_ desperate and I _still_ almost can’t believe it _worked_.”

“Chase Young may not be good, but he keeps his word.” Omi paused and glanced at something past them, before frowning darkly at the ground and resuming his exercises. “Though, if we could avoid a repetition of those events, I would _very much_ appreciate it.”


End file.
